A Male & A Female Actor Should Get the Same Fees: Shah Rukh Khan

SRK addresses the gender wage gap in Bollywood

SRK speaks at TED Talks. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/@TEDTalks)

Bollywood is an industry marked by an extraordinary gender wage gap. Shah Rukh Khan is known to put the names of the leading ladies of his films before him in the rolling credits. Making a case for gender equality, he recently addressed the pay parity in the Hindi film industry, in a conversation with Economic Times.

SRK didn’t mince words while calling the industry a male-dominated one. He went on to say that we can’t push the disparity under the carpet, though he’d love for it to be different.

“A male actor and a female actor should get the same fees — why is it different, I don’t know. But I would also add that no actor — male or female — should over-estimate their performance. No individual — be it director or actor — should burden the film’s expense by charging an amount that goes beyond the performance of the film’s opening weekend.”

Shah Rukh Khan

Priyanka Chopra and Anushka Sharma had also spoken up about closing the pay gap.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero is slated for a December 2018 release. Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma feature alongside SRK in the Aanand L Rai directorial.