Box office success to decide Pay scale?

Kajol feels more than gender, the success at the box office should determine the pay scale of actors

Kajol has always been fearless in deciding the course of her career. She has never bothered about the consequences before taking a call and recently, when asked about the pay disparity between genders, the actor said that pay parity is essential, but it should be decided by box office success and not gender.

“The debate on pay parity is a thought, which has been put out. The pay should be according to genre and how the box office success is,” said Kajol, adding, “Pay equality is coming up to par. To call it a trend would be strange. It is something that should be a natural fact of life.”

The actor, who made her debut with Bekhudi (1992), was known to be one of the most natural actors of screen in the ’90s. She chose varied roles, explored different genres and even took a break from showbiz, when she was at the peak of her career. “I keep taking breaks. It’s important for my health. I cannot sum it up in a sentence, but it has been a long, fruitful journey. I’m thankful for everything that God has blessed me with,” added actor Ajay Devgn’s wife and the mother of two — Yug (7) and Nysa (15).

Reigning in the ’90s, Kajol went on to do films such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dushman (1998), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), which worked wonders at the box office. Looking back at her journey, she said: “I have done what I thought was right. Some of it has paid off and some were mistakes. No, I would not call it a mistake, but a learning experience. And I don’t regret one bit of it or any aspect of it.”

On whether it was easy to work on her own terms, Kajol said, “It wasn’t easy or difficult. I didn’t think about it. I only did what I thought was right. I didn’t pay attention to what everybody was saying and what everybody wanted, which is exactly the way my mother has brought me up.”

Kajol confessed that lessons by her mother Tanuja helped her sail through all the ups and downs of her life. “She was like, ‘You have to figure out whether you are okay with the consequences of your actions. If you are, then nothing else matters’. And that is exactly the way I saw it. If the film flopped, I was okay with it. They were the consequences of my actions. I have that feeling drilled into me by Tanuja — The great,” she said.