Kriti Raises Issue of Pay Parity

 Kriti Sanon minced no words while calling out the Hindi film industry’s glaring pay disparity. The actor-entrepreneur questioned the industry’s long-standing reluctance to treat male and female actors on par, pointing out that hard work remains the same irrespective of gender.

“Actually, considering all other industries, I don’t understand why pay parity is still missing. For certain roles or jobs, whether you are male or female shouldn’t matter — the pay should be the same. In films, we’ve been having this conversation for a very, very long time and trust me, it pinches us more than anyone else,” she said.

Her recent successes include the female-led Crew and her debut as producer with Do Patti. Kriti admitted that budgets for female-led projects are rarely scaled to the same level as male-led ones. “If it’s a film led by a woman, producers are scared they won’t recover the money. It becomes a cycle where female-led films don’t make as much, and then it’s like ‘oh, that’s why his fees are more or her fees are less’.”

Currently preparing for Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2, Kriti said she was hopeful that content-driven films are finally beginning to take centre-stage, irrespective of whether they are led by men or women.