Over the past couple of years, but more so in the recent months, the debate of gender-based pay gap in the movie industry has been been catching more heat than ever before.
A number of A-list actresses have come out to speak about the varying degree of remunerations they are offered in comparison to their male co-stars, suggesting a form of gender-bias in Bollywood.
Dishing on the subject with his views, Abhishek Bachchan recently appeared at a recent interview and pointed out a few instances where female co-stars were in fact paid more than their male counterparts. One of those examples, was of coarse of his wife – Aishwarya Rai.
Here is what he was quoted as saying by News18:
“There’s a huge debate on gender parity in the film business and in other industries. I’ve worked in nine films with my wife [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan] and in eight of those, she’s got paid more than I have. The highest-paid actor in ‘Piku’ was Deepika [Padukone],”
Jr. Bachchan further insisted that as far as the movie “business” goes, it is really a matter of how salable you are – based on which your remunerations will be decided.
“It’s a business and if you are a saleable actor, you get paid accordingly. You can’t be a new actress and demand to be paid the same as Shah Rukh Khan,” he further added.
Can’t say we disagree with that.
The movie business is of coarse not like a ‘desk job’, where gender-parities can be assessed easily with factors like the total work hours, quality and overall experience – serving as sole-detriments of your wages. When it comes to showbiz, it really is a matter of the profits you can pull as an entertainer – which should eventually decide your salary.