Deepika Padukone becomes the highest paid actress in Bollywood
According to Mumbai Mirror, Deepika Padukone has bagged a Rs.10 crore paycheck (without taxes) for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming movie "Padmavati". She has become the highest earning actress in the Hindi Film Industry. Sources said that for "Ram-Leela" she charged Rs.1 crore, Rs.7 crore for "Bajirao-Mastani", Rs.12.65 crore for "Padmavati", making her the first Bollywood actress to break the Rs.10 crore barrier.
Juhi Chawla was quoted saying,"Pay disparity has always been there.It was there during our times too. There was no-problem. It wasn't something I got upset about. We just accepted that the male actors would get more than us" and wage-gap was never disputed back then.
According to Mumbai Mirror, Deepika Padukone has bagged a Rs.10 crore paycheck (without taxes) for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming movie "Padmavati". She has become the highest earning actress in the Hindi Film Industry. Sources said that for "Ram-Leela" she charged Rs.1 crore, Rs.7 crore for "Bajirao-Mastani", Rs.12.65 crore for "Padmavati", making her the first Bollywood actress to break the Rs.10 crore barrier.
Deepika made her Bollywood debut in 2007 with "Om Shanti Om". In Forbes 2015 list of 100 richest Indian celebrities, Deepika was the only woman to feature among the top-10. Others in the list include Amitabh Bachchan, the 3 Khans, Hrithik and Akshay, most of whom have been around for a whole lot longer.
Most top actresses earn around Rs.6-8 crore. Hrithik charges Rs.50 crore whereas Kareena earned Rs.7 crore for "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", even though they have been in the industry for the same amount of time. Ranbir's fee per film is estimated at around Rs.20-25 crore even though he came 1 year after Deepika. Ranveer Singh, who debuted in 2011, crossed the "Rs.10-crore barrier" way before her.
Bollywood seems to be closing in the difference between the wages earned by male and female actors. Young actors like Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra, Sushant Singh Rajput are earning amounts that are comparable to the fees charged by actresses like Alia Bhatt and Sonakshi Sinha. However, it is believed that Hema Malini earned almost equal amounts as her male co-stars back in her days.
At the 87th Academy Awards, Patricia Arquette made a powerful statement about wage-equality for women; she got a standing ovation by Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez. At Cannes Film Festival 2016, Freida Pinto spoke about her campaign, 'We Do It Together' to equalize salaries.
