Kuttey’s Radhika Madan: Female actors are still pushing for equal pay

This cannot be stressed enough that gender pay parity is real, and there is still a long way for that gap to close. While it’s an issue across industries around the world, Bollywood actor Radhika Madan - whose new film Kuttey is currently running in the theatres - revealed that, like many other female actors in the industry, the pay gap is a big battle for her too.

In a recent interview with NDTV India, Radhika said when we talk about how much actors earn from a film, the discourse is still largely centred on the male actors. “Female actors have their own problems. We are still just fighting for the basic pay parity right now, forget about charging an x amount, where producer ko lage ki haye meri movie kaise banegi. Women in the industry are still struggling for equal pay. We need to overcome these battles first to get into the next level of discussions. Mere liye bari battle gender pay parity hai abhi,” she elaborated.

According to the actor - who is known for her work in films like Pataakha, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and Ray - the Hindi film industry might be more than 100 years old, but it’s only been about two decades or so when female-oriented films are given the kind of attention they deserve.

“Although, I have finished two-three solo films already, abhi tak mera rishtedar puchte hain ki film mein hero kaun hai. Unko abhi bhi yeh accept karne ko problem hoti hai ki there can be a female protagonist in a film. They still believe that hero hai toh picture hai. Hamari jo battle chal rahi hai, that’s very different from the kind of hardships that our male counterparts face in the industry,” Radhika further said during the interview, sitting alongside her Kuttey co-actor Arjun Kapoor and director Aasmaan Bhardwaj.

Released on January 13 this year, the cast of the adventure-comedy film features some prominent names from the industry - including Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ashish Vidyarthi and Kumud Mishra.