one, part of the lucky few that are able to stand up for themselves and have a voice for themselves. you ve also been very vocal about the pay gap, and let s talk about that for both the industries that you re a part of, but let s start with bollywood. what s been your experience of that? well, i ve never had pay parity in bollywood. i ve done 60 something movies, i think, but i ve never got paid the same as my male co actor. ijust about after 22 years of working, now finally in my show citadel, finally had that, but that took 22 years! when you say you didn t have pay parity, i mean, how how different was it? like, i would get paid about.10% of my male co actor. wow. that s large, substantially large. and so many girls still deal with that.
what was that experience like? humbling. laughs. the one thing about being an actor in bollywood is female or males the men enjoy a lot more of it, but women do too. you re kind of told or made to feel like there s nothing greater than you when you walk into a room, and that comes from the immense love that the indian people have for hindi movies. the audience loves hindi movies and they love the stars that are in them. so when you become a hindi movie actor, you kind of feel like it s all about me, you know. i m the greatest thing to have ever happened because i ve made it to the eyes and the minds and the hearts of millions and billions, actually, of people who watch hindi movies around the world. it is a really powerful feeling and then when you walk out of your comfort zone
really long time for me to be able to get to a part where i am doing leading roles, and then to be able to command that kind of parity. but, yeah, i ve seen that there, ijust don t know, going forward, if it will continue or not. i ll keep you posted on that one too! you know, one of the things i ve heard and it was said by a man is that women don t get paid as much as men because women don t ask. no, that s not true. we ve asked. we ve asked many, many times. my generation of female actors have definitely asked. it s been in conversations, and i know that because a lot of my colleagues are my friends and we ve talked about it. that, you know, their representation, because girls are a little bit afraid that they lose work if they are troublesome. that s something that s another thought process that exists in, i think, notjust bollywood, but, you know, in any patriarchal culture that, you know, girls should just be easy to work with, always be smiling, pleasant, they should
and i m sure i will too if i worked with a male co actor now in bollywood. so, that was my next question has it changed at all or is it changing? it s changing, but i don t think it s changed. i think even if i do that now, if i worked in a movie with a main co actor as a co lead i mean, i ll let you know when i do a movie like that because i m going to do that as a social experiment! but i don t think i would get the same remuneration as a male co actor. and is hollywood any different? well, it s the first time it s happened to me, has happened in hollywood, so i don t know going forward, because this was my first show with someone as a co lead in hollywood after ten years of working in hollywood, i m finally doing lead parts. it took a really, really long time, a lot of pavement pounding to be able to say, to be able to get roles that, in a mainstream way, and i always wanted to be a part of mainstream entertainment, whether that was in bollywood or hollywood. so it takes a lon
you know, one of the things i ve heard and it was said by a man is that women don t get paid as much as men because women don t ask. no, that s not true. we ve asked. we ve asked many, many times. my generation of female actors have definitely asked. it s been in conversations, and i know that because a lot of my colleagues are my friends and we ve talked about it. that, you know, their representation, because girls are a little bit afraid that they lose work if they are troublesome. that s something that s another thought process that exists in, i think, notjust bollywood, but, you know, in any patriarchal culture that, you know, girls should just be easy to work with, always be smiling, pleasant, they should never complain, and i was. i behaved like that for a very long time till i kind of found my own footing and i was kind of ok with doing smaller movies that i shouldered on my own shoulders and not having to cater or pander to, you know, the male actors or their needs