Kriti Sanon, who attended CNN-News18’s SheShakti Delhi Edition on Thursday, opened up on the long-standing issue of pay parity in the Indian film industry, stressing that despite conversations over the years,
the gap continues to sting.
“Actually, considering all the other industries, I don’t understand why the pay parity is there. Because for a certain kind of roles, certain kind of jobs, whether you are a male or a female, it shouldn’t matter and the pay should be same. In the films, yes we’ve been having this conversation for a very, very long time and trust me it pinches us more than anyone else,” Kriti said.
She further addressed the root of the problem, pointing out the vicious cycle that ties star remuneration to audience pull. “The huge gap in the payment for male and female actors. But I think it’s a circle because I feel that the fee of any actor sort of relates to how many audience you can pull into a theater from your name on Day 1. Unfortunately, there are a very few films that are, much fewer films I would say that are led by woman than men.”
According to her, even when films are female-led, they are often not given the same budgetary scale as those headlined by men. “Even if it’s a film led by a woman, I feel it’s not scaled at the same budget as a film that is led by a man would be. But that’s also because producers are scared that they are not going to get as much money back. So I think it’s a circle where female-led films don’t end up making as much money as the male-led films and then it’s like ‘oh, that’s why his fees is more or her fees is less’.”
Yet, Kriti sees slow but promising change. “So I feel like it’s changing slowly. I like the fact that films working is no longer dependent on male or female, it’s depended on content. When a film led by three women Crew ended up working and entertaining audience, it gave me hope, it felt like when it’s a female-led film, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a serious subject. You can also have fun, you can also entertain people. You can also have these big locations and have the budget and I feel things will change only when some people, the producers obviously have the heart to take the risk. Take risk on the subject, not whose leading it.”
Highlighting an example of scale done right, she praised Gangubai Kathiawadi. “The only film that comes to my mind that has been at that scale, at that budget was Gangubai Kathiawadi, where you felt like it was larger than life. It would have been the same looking film if it was a guy leading it. And I felt it was like hyped, big budget, the shots were taken in a larger than life way. When someone is entering, we call it ‘hero shot’, when you make someone look like larger than life. That doesn’t happen normally when a female is leading a film like that. So I was very very happy seeing that at least someone has the guts to put in that much money on a female-led film and it did well. So I feel like when there are more producers putting that much money, on a female-led film, be confident of the content and it will get the money back and things will change then. So it’s a slow process but it’s possible.”
SheShakti 2025, themed “From Breaking Barriers to Building Bharat,” marked its grand finale in New Delhi with a lineup that included Sanya Malhotra, Smriti Irani, Lindy Cameron, Nidhi Khare, Rekha Gupta, and Mallika Srinivasan, alongside Kriti Sanon. The platform continues to spotlight women’s leadership and dialogue across diverse fields.
On the professional front, Kriti will next be seen in Aanand L. Rai’s Tere Ishk Mein opposite Dhanush. Reports also suggest she may feature in a pivotal role in Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3, further cementing her position as one of the most dynamic actors of her generation.
