Deepika Padukone says pay-scale for male &female actors should be same

This year, the Annual 2014 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list has just one female celebrity: Deepika Padukone. The actress made her debut in 2007 and is currently one of the most successful actresses in Bollywood.

In the past two years, Padukone has seen great success in her films. Where most commercial Bollywood heroines are mostly sidelined in Blockbuster movies, Padukone has managed to hold her own, and shined in movies like Ram-Leela, Chennai Express, Finding Fanny and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani.  She was also the first commercial Hindi movie actress to stand up against the objectification of actresses by leading media houses.

In an interview with renowned film critic, Rajiv Masand, Padukone discusses the position of women in Indian cinema today.

The Financial Express>

On being asked about the reasons for powerful roles being written and offered to Indian actresses today, like Tabu in ‘Haider’ and Kangana Ranaut in ‘Queen,’ amongst others; Deepika said,  “I think.. May be writers who had thought of films earlier with central female parts, but didn’t have the courage to approach a producer or a director; probably have that now, because they know, that the women are interested. They know that there is a market for it, they know that the audience is ready for it.”

Deepika added that she would also like to see women getting paid better. She confidently said that superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan have a great fan-following and have worked for over two decades and so rightfully deserve a great pay. But added that there is no reason why the younger generations of actresses are being paid less than the young male actors, when both men and women are contributing equally to a film.

Mentioning the TOI incident, when a picture of her was taken inappropriate and posted on the official website, some people accused her of being hypocritical. In response to that, she said, “I stood up for what I think is right. What I do on a magazine cover, what I do in a film, what I wear in a film, what I say, what I don’t say, is my choice. That’s the difference.