Female actors can ask for equal pay after delivering a film like SRK's Pathaan: Kajol

Actor believes that women-led films need to bring in the same profits to join the conversation

Kajol, the Bollywood actor with a career spanning over three decades, voiced her thoughts on the pressing issue of pay parity within the Hindi film industry. Speaking at the Jagran Film Festival held in Delhi, the actor, 49, emphasised the need for substantial representation of women in powerful roles before achieving true pay equality.

When asked about pay parity in Bollywood, she asserted that one should only ask these questions after India starts making big-scale women-led films and they do as well as something like Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan.

"When you start making a Wonder Woman for India and it does equally well as a Pathaan, then maybe there will be pay equality,” she exclaimed, referring to Shah Rukh’s mega-hit Pathaan, which became the highest domestic grosser in the history of Bollywood, earning over INR5.43 billion in India. Kajol also shed light on the correlation between box office performance and gender pay parity.

With a string of blockbusters under her belt, Kajol has undoubtedly been one of the most sought-after actors in Bollywood with numerous blockbusters, including iconic films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

However, Kajol’s opinions on pay disparity come at a time when the industry is grappling with gender pay gaps that have long been a topic of concern for women actors. Unlike her opinions on when women should talk about pay parity, other Bollywood actors have fought for it in the past.

Priyanka Chopra previously addressed the issue of pay disparity. She revealed that it wasn't until her involvement in the Prime Video project Citadel that she received equal pay as her male co-star, Richard Madden. Deepika Padukone, too, confronted gender-based wage differences.

In a previous interview, Deepika disclosed that she turned down a film offer due to the makers' refusal to match her fee in favour of accommodating the male lead.

“There was a recent incident where a director offered us a film that creatively I liked. But then it came to talking about money, and I said that this is what I would charge. He came back and told me that he wouldn’t be able to afford me as he had to accommodate the male (lead). I said ‘tata-goodbye’ because I know my worth. I know that his films haven’t been doing as well as my films have,” the Padmaavat star had said, as quoted by Indian Express.

Bollywood veteran Jaya Bachchan also weighed in on the topic during a candid conversation with her granddaughter, Navya Naveli Nanda, on a podcast. Jaya attributed the gender pay gap to male insecurity. She suggested that male-dominated mindsets often result in “attempts to belittle and marginalise women in various fields.”

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