The ongoing debate in Bollywood surrounding working hours and pay culture continues to be a hot topic. Amid this, an old interview of actor Aamir Khan has gone viral. In the video, Khan has shared his views on how salaries are decided.
In the viral clip, Khan said that if he is paid Rs 10, it’s because the market decides that. He explained that payment depends on a person’s ability to draw crowds.
“The reason you are paid differently in cinema is that the market forces understand your ability to bring money back into a film. See, if I am paid Rs 10, it is because I can bring back that money and more. If I am paid Rs 5, and if Rani can fill more seats than I can, 101% she should be paid more than me. The market forces make sure that she gets paid more than I do,”
Khan had said during the promotions of his 2012 film, Talaash.
Speaking to NDTV, he added that producers invest based on expected returns. According to Khan, the disparity is not about gender, but economics.
Throwback to these interviews where Akshay Kumar and Amir Khan destroyed the Gender equality pay gap myth !!
" You're getting what you deserve , The more audience you pull as an actor The more you get paid "
They both cooked very hard 😂🔥 pic.twitter.com/CQqGqNAJ37
— Kapil`ॐ (@iAKsSaviour) January 10, 2025
“The actor said, “In films, the fact of the matter is – yes, heroines work very hard, but so do cameramen, so do light boys on the set; all of us should be paid equally. All of us are working hard; I am working hard, and so is a light boy. Why is he paid differently from me? It is not because he’s a man or a woman,” he stated.
Khan’s remarks have gone viral again following actress Deepika Padukone’s stand on work conditions in Bollywood. She recently spoke about demanding an 8-hour workday, which reportedly led to her exit from Spirit and the Kalki 2898 AD sequel.
In a CNBC TV18 interview, she criticised the industry’s double standards and long-standing discrimination against female actors. Padukone pointed out that many male actors have long maintained 8-hour workdays, with no weekend shoots.
Padukone has been emphasising the need for professionalism and structure in the film industry.
