Actress Kajol, who is busy promoting her forthcoming film Helicopter Eela, addressed the issue of gender pay disparity.
While there has been constant talk about pay disparity among male and female actors in the Hindi film industry, many actresses in the recent past have raised their voice against it.
On Thursday, Kajol was interacting with media during the promotion of her film when she spoke about the issue.
“I think that issue has to do with box office collections to a big extent and there is gender issue for sure, but if you see, not a single actress’ film can do Rs 500 crore business the way a Salman Khan film does at the box office. Actresses over the years have been an integral part in the success of a film, but after all, it’s a business,” Kajol said.
Kajol said that nowadays the audiences have been more open to accept female-oriented films.
“I am very grateful that today’s audience has changed and they are going to theatres to watch films like ‘Kahaani’ and ‘Raazi’. People are making these films because it is now financially okay to make them and it’s all happening because of the audience changing perspective.
“It’s a simple logic that if you go in a grocery shop, the owner of that shop will sell those products which have a larger sale and you have to take that into consideration while making a film as well. Having said that, I am not saying that there is no gender discrimination in the industry. There is definitely gender discrimination and the pay structure has to change.”
Helicopter Eela is directed by Pradeep Sarkar. The film also stars National Award-winning actor Riddhi Sen, who will be playing Kajol’s son.
Written by Mitesh Shah, the movie is co-produced by Ajay Devgn and Jayantilal Gada of Pen India Ltd. It will release on October 12.
-With agency inputs