LONDON, June 30 — The shift is subtle but stubborn. Heroines still get paid less than heroes, even as the Hindi film industry evolves around them. Raveena Tandon, currently shooting an OTT series in London and Scotland, addressed the pay gap directly in a recent interview.
“Heroes get private chartered planes while we don’t even make as much money,” she said. The actress, whose latest release Welcome To The Jungle is a hero-driven mainstream comedy, noted that while the writing is more defined today and heroines have more agency, the really funny lines still go to the heroes.
That disparity extends to the paycheck. Tandon pointed out a telling contrast: while a male and female assistant director would get the same remuneration, heroines still get paid less than heroes. The gap persists even as women make inroads into every field of expertise, including what were once male-dominated bastions.
She is proud of that progress. “I’m very proud of our Hindi film industry where today, I see women making inroads into every field of expertise, even what were once male-dominated bastions,” she said.
But the trend underneath is that the financial ceiling remains lower for women on screen. Welcome To The Jungle features an ensemble cast of 32 actors. Tandon described it as a crazy ride and a refreshing change after a spate of intense performances in recent films and web series. She had to do a lot of unlearning, given how much the style of filmmaking has changed since her superhit madcap comedies of the 90s, like Andaz Apna Apna and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.
She credited talented co-stars including Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Paresh Rawal, Johny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Jacqueline Fernandez and Disha Patani for making it easy. Director Ahmed Khan also got a nod. What’s changing?
Tandon is looking forward to the day when she can really let her hair down as uninhibitedly as the boys. The secret to a good ensemble film, she said, is not one-upmanship.
Watch this space. The conversation around pay equity in Bollywood isn’t fading — and the industry’s most established stars are no longer staying quiet about it.
