Neither Undervalue Nor Overvalue Myself: Alia Bhatt

Bollywood star Alia Bhatt is aware that her male counterpart Varun Dhawan has a ‘wider reach’ than her, and it seems to be unfair if she expects the same amount of money invested in her film as his.

In an interview with DNA, she said, “Investing money in a film is directly co-related to the people you are bringing to the theatre. I’m not delusional that the same number of viewers who go to watch Varun’s movies will come to see my work.”

Talking about his 'wider reach', she explained that she doesn’t dwell on the uncontrollable expectation but rather focuses on outcome. “That’s why I can’t expect that the same amount of money, which is invested in his solo-starrers, is invested in mine, too.”

She added, “I’ll neither undervalue nor overvalue myself because there’s a certain arrogance that comes along with it.”

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Alia has proved her mettle time and again through her acting prowess. She deserves the tag of being the most versatile actress of her generation. The daughter of Mahesh Bhatt has acted in over 20 high-grossing Bollywood movies, with at least six of them collecting well over $15 million worldwide in the opening weeks. Not to mention, her latest Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi is a mesmerizing experience.

With the statement on pay disparity, she joins the likes of Rani Mukerji and Sonam Kapoor in the debate of 'gender-based pay gap' prevalent in Bollywood. Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, and several leading ladies from Bollywood have also been vocal about the pay disparity in the past. Recently, when the 'Padmaavat' controversy was raging, actress Deepika Padukone was in the headlines for bagging a larger pay cheque than her male co-stars, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor.

Pay disparity is among a wide range of issues related to the film industry that comes to the fore time and again

Feature Image Credit: Indiatimes

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