Pay disparity in Bollywood: After Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor; Rakul Preet Singh speaks out of pay disparity

Gender pay gap across industries remains is a yawning maw. During the Citadel launch in India Priyanka Chopra opened up on the issue of pay disparity for actresses in the movie business. The actress revealed that only now, after being in the industry for 22 years, is she getting paid equal to her male counterparts and that is for her latest web show Citadel. She went on to state that when she was actively working in India, she couldn’t have asked for equal pay. She only asked for a little bit more than what she was being paid, but even that wouldn’t work for her.

At a recent event, actress Rakul Preet Singh too touched upon the same issue and said, “This is a very difficult topic. There’s no one answer to it, and I have a very different opinion on it. When Priyanka Chopra spoke about disparity, today she’s become a global icon and can pull crowds to theaters. What really needs to happen is that your pay needs to be decided on how much crowd you’re pulling to theaters as opposed to your gender – that’s more important because when we stop having these questions or conversations on pay parity based on men and women, then the scenario would change.”

Gender pay gap in the entertainment industry is not just a Bollywood phenomenon its a global phenomenon. And why just entertainment industry, it is across all industries, women are paid lesser than men. In conversation with Firstpost, the Basic Instinct actor Sharon Stone  said she “would like to have directed” after her breakthrough role in Paul Verhoeven’s erotic thriller Basic Instinct in 1992, but wasn’t allowed to do so due to her gender. At the Red Sea International Film Festival, Sharon Stone said, “I went to the studio and asked them for a small budget,” said Stone. “And I was laughed out of the room; I was told ‘women don’t direct’.”

Basic Instincts completed thirty years early this year. Sharon Stone in a conversation  at the second edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival  said the difference between her Basic Instinct salary and that of co-star Michael Douglas meant she was not able to feel secure after the film made her famous. “I made $500,000, and Michael Douglas made $14m,” said Stone. “Michael could afford the car, driver, bodyguard. I had to move because people were on my roof and breaking my door down. I couldn’t afford the things I needed because of the sudden fame I had.”

“Are you creating good content? Is the audience excited to see your film? Whether you’re a male actor, female actor, character actor, whoever… if you’re attracting an audience, you should be paid based on some proportional math, but not on gender,” she added. Rakul Preet was recently seen in Chhatriwali and Thank God.

In the past Bollywood’s  Kareena Kapoor Khan too has been very vocal about pay disparity. During an interview with The Guardian, Kareena had talked about how years ago nobody would even think about having a discussion about the pay gap. But now people are being vocal and there’s a shift. Kareena says that she is clear with what she wants and believes that the respect should be given. She says that it’s not about being demanding but being respectful towards women.

The Haseen Dilruba actress, Taapee Pannu once quipped that if a woman asks about higher pay, they are considered to be problematic and are termed difficult to deal with. But when a man asks for higher pay, it is deemed as his success.

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