"I was ‘rumoured’ to bring bad luck to films. Mind you, all of these films had huge male co-stars and directors, but the failure of movies was blamed upon my bad luck. Thereafter, I’ve been asked to reduce my pay, I’ve been thrown out of films because the producer was having financial issues." was said by an actor who brought both name and fame to a movie which was solely her outstanding performance. An off-beat content driven and a women centric movie that managed to make it big on financial returns.
Such incidences raise questions about the pay disparity that is on going in Bollywood. A fact not hidden from anyone, males are paid more than females for their films. Pay Disparity occurs because when it comes to revenue and it's credibility, the producers believe that it is the "male power" that has brought in collections. And as per the stats of the last 3-4 years also suggest that a male lead has brought in more collections than any female lead movie.
Can anyone imagine Asin doing a lead role in a movie like Ready? The movie that has grossed 122 crores domestically would not have even made 22 crores with a female lead. It was Salman Khan's star power that brought in collections.
If a low content movie makes 100 crores in the name of a male superstar why can't a female actor also earn the same type of money. Why? Pay Disparity. India is known to have let men have an upper hand over women for past centuries. So that has now started reflecting in Bollywood. A women centric movie earns less and the actress is also paid less. So indirectly, it is the audience who is to be blamed for this discrimination. They don't appreciate women driven movies because it might be against the typical role that a male person sees a woman and that is of a housewife.
Content driven movies also think twice before signing actresses like Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor etc. because they charge in the range of 9-12 crores for a movie. So producers are in 2 minds, "Should I, should I not?" but then with current situations of content winning over stardom they "risk" their money on such pretty faces. If a movie succeeds, it is not because of the content and still actresses are not given their due.
With women lead movies like "Noor", "Naam Shabana", "Begum Jaan" releasing in the next two months, we can know about how are women centric movies going to do in the near future. But currently, the number of movies being made with female leads, it seems that the far future might be holding the answer to this pay disparity. But, as of the near future with the Khans, it seems that women have a long way to struggle in Bollywood and in the country for an equal status.
P.S. A normal ratio of an Actor's earnings to Actresses' earnings is 5:1.
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