Vidya Balan's comments on equal pay are a little puzzling

Male actors get paid well because they've proven their box office worth, women need to do that more and more, she said

Updated 05 Feb, 2019

In a recent interview with Filmfare, Vidya Balan opened up about turning 40, body-shaming and about her movies, The Dirty Picture and Kahaani becoming the first female-centric movies to enter the 100-crore club.

Balan shared, "I didn’t say that I want to be the first female actor to do commercially successful women-centric films. It just happened."

Modest, a little reductive to say it "just happened" but okay.

She was then asked about the wage disparity in Bollywood and had a very confusing answer, coming from her. We expected better.

"I cannot compare my fees with that of the male actors because I’m doing films where I’m pretty much whole and sole. Other actresses, who work with male superstars, are in better position to comment on that. But are these girls not demanding more? Are they not getting more? Of course they are," she says.

"It’s still a while before we get equal pay but you also have to consider other factors. If the man is the central character and is going to bring in the audiences, then obviously he will get paid well because he’s proved his box-office worth. When we women begin to prove ourselves more and more, people won’t be able to deny us our pound of flesh," she said.

It's disappointing a trailblazer like her would say something so ignorant. Women will only get to "prove" themselves more when they're given the opportunity; men have already done so because they've been running the show and still are.

You have to write the meaningful characters meant for women and studies have shown that women-led films are even beating their male counterparts at the box office so no reason why filmmakers can't take the risk (if you can even call it that) of casting women as leads.

Comments

Usman Ali Feb 05, 2019 05:12pm

While I am all for equal pay, but I think women (or any other marginalized group for that matter) should not wait for opportunities to be given to them. They can, and are creating their own opportunities. This is specially true for women who are half the population, while any any other marginalized group of society is usually a minority, making it difficult for them to create their own opportunities. p.s. I am in no way implying that women should not be given opportunities unless they create themselves.

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HonorBright Feb 05, 2019 06:50pm

I guess she makes a whole load of sense. If women consider they will prove themselves if given their due opportunities which they are not getting at the moment, why wait for such opportunities? why not create them?

No-Name Feb 05, 2019 11:58pm

Women want to see more of male leads and men want to watch their male heroes. I think the industry already tried female lead roles and didnt work out. Perhaps if they just made movies like Japanese and Koreans make their characters by making both genders act exactly the same way. Therefore, no issue of gender exist.

Faisal Ejaz Feb 06, 2019 02:55am

Finally a very sensible comment by Vidya Balan.

aasma Feb 06, 2019 11:31am

Woman get paid more then men in Bollywood when they are leading the film. In Hollywood they don't. Eg. Hollywood -" The Crowns" main protagonist Clair Foy was paid half then male lead who had less than 20 mins role in it. Bollywood - Deepika was paid 12 crore for Padmawat while Ranveer was paid 6 crore, Shahid 3 crore. Same with Fanay Khan, Jazba, Dirty picture, Kahani, Queen, Manikarnika etc movies were females were paid twice more than male lead in it. So Vidya is right in saying they do get their dues when they are protagonist of film.