WILL HEROINES GET THEIR DUE?

The pay parity in Hollywood may be the beginning. We explore if this will reflect in Bollywood

Scarlett Johansson sure did a swell job in the superhero franchise — Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and it’s only right that she got paid as much as Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in the movie. All that equal pay revolution in Hollywood suddenly makes sense! However, looks like Bollywood still has a long way to go.

Apart from a fixed amount that an A-list actor charges for each film, they also get a percentage of profit from the films that they are involved in. According to reports, actor Aamir Khan charges `20 crore for a film, plus 33% of the profits that the film makes. Similarly, another A-lister charges `20 crore for his film as well as takes 50% of the profits of his co-productions. On the other hand, female actors such as Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif among others reportedly charge between `3-8 crore per film. “You can argue and say that a Kangana or a Deepika are earning more than what an Imran or R Madhvan are earning. But we have to admit that the film industry is still male dominated. There’s still a long way to go for female actors to reach where an Aamir or a Salman are, and can demand that kind of money and be involved at the profit sharing level as well,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan.

Interestingly, things did change for the better for female actors after it was reported that Kangana Ranaut has increased her fee to `11 crore per film. Filmmaker Anand L Rai says that while there’s still a big disparity, he is certain that things will change. “It will be a slow process and with films such as Piku and Queen, things are improving and that day is not far when a heroine will probably demand as much as an actor,” he says.

Actor Nimrat Kaur feels an actor should be paid on the basis of their popularity. “I feel at the end of the day, an actor should be paid according to the number of audiences that they can draw to a theatre. If one looks at entertainment as a business, then regardless of their gender, they should be paid according to the number of tickets they sell,” she says.

The remuneration difference is insane. We have strong female performers, and the day femaleoriented films do well at the BO, it’ll lead to a change —Priyanka Chopra, actor