From nepotism to groupism in Bollywood, Kangana Ranaut has always opened up about the ‘struggles’ she has faced in the entertainment industry.
Recently, in an interview with TOI, she spilled the beans about her views on gender equality and pay parity in Bollywood and around the world.
“I guess a lot of women are trivializing the pay parity issue. You cannot make yourself a lesser being that we women don’t get or don’t deserve and one hero is deserving of so much more. Don’t project yourself to a lesser being. That is causing so much more damage,” Kangan said.
When asked if she feels that a woman has to strongly demand her fee in the entertainment industry, Kangana explained she believes it is not about the gender but empowerment.
“No, I think every time a hero charges what he charges isn’t because of his gender. They come with an experience as well. Today, to simply say that because I am this gender I am not getting this is not true. Because look, I am getting what I am getting. I don’t think so it is because of my gender. But to make juvenile statements like that and to create a complex in a girl child that maybe the world is going to be like this to me or that’s how the world has been to other women before me is so wrong,” she said.
“Some women obviously don’t understand the intensity of what we have gone through. When I had come to find a film like ‘Queen’, it was impossible. We have collectively made this industry what it is today. And now maybe the younger or inexperienced ones are getting it on a platter. Today, for somebody to get a female-centric film after doing two films has become so easy, maybe a small budget or whatever. But it is easier than before. It wasn’t the case with us,” she added.
Kangana believes that literacy, women empowerment, and hard work will fetch a woman what she wants in the industry. “It is collectively also the way you operate yourself through decades, perseverance, hard work and also where the society is today. So today when I am working on girl literacy rate and women empowerment, indirectly I am also cultivating the audience for female-centric films. It is all connected together,” she said.
She also said that the changes that we bring today will certainly benefit the women in coming generations. “Today you cannot just crib only 20% females watch films, 80% is men and 50% of that 80% is not even educated. My point is that as an artiste rather than making juvenile statements and harming the movement, why not work on girl literacy rate, women empowerment, women employment. Today when one makes a movie like ‘Mission Mangal’, you need a male star because that is the 80% population of the cinema-going audience. But why these women collectively do not work on these causes. Maybe our generation will not benefit but look, what we did today so many women are benefitting out of that. So, we need to go further and empower our women and then obviously the proportion will change,” Kangana said.
Pointing out that media plays a pivotal role in the same, Kangana said,
“Things will change, they’ve changed a lot, they need to charge more. Also, the media should refrain from putting an individual’s point of view as a headline. You can put it inside but not as a headline of gospel truth that women mean nothing in the scheme of things. That is not true! Maybe an individual may feel like that out of their experiences, but that is the problem of so many males also.”
“So many males are not able to find success or not able to find a job. It is not a gender issue. There are a lot of idiots out there who are doing all kind of things but my point is that as a media, as a society, we need to be responsible but we need to highlight. We need to make sure that our girl child is empowered and we do not need to give any importance or attention to individual experiences of negativity or idiocy,” she added.
Pay parity is a big issue in the entertainment industry. We’ve time and again seen actresses coming forward to express their disappointment about not being paid as much as their male counterparts. While many blame it on patriarchy, Kangana thinks differently. We hope her wise words contribute to bringing a change!
Cover Image Source: Left