Pay parity has long been a subject of debate in the Indian film industry, with many actors and filmmakers weighing in on the disparity between the earnings of male and female stars. Speaking about the issue on Soha Ali Khan’s podcast, Saif Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu explained that remuneration is largely driven by box office economics and audience demand rather than gender.
During the conversation, Saif stated that actors of similar stature should ideally receive equal pay; however, the industry’s payment structure is deeply tied to the ability to draw audiences to theatres. “If the actors are of equal stature, they should be paid the same amount. But I also feel the economics work in a certain way. If you are putting people in seats in the theatre, you get paid accordingly. Everyone understands that relationship,” said Saif. He added that the system isn’t meant to favour one gender over another but rather reflects an actor’s market value.
“It’s not like just because you are a certain gender you deserve to be paid more or less. It’s actually a very balanced economic system where people are clear that this person is a superstar because they are filling theatres. They know their worth, charge that price and get paid,” added Saif.
Kunal, meanwhile, broke down the ‘maths’ behind how actor salaries are decided in the industry, explaining that historically distributors could predict a film’s recovery based on the stars attached to it. “There is a maths to it. This is the mathematical part, not whether a film will work or not - that’s a different thing. Earlier, distributors knew that if I had this actor, I could sell a territory for a certain amount of money and that becomes part of the recovery,” he said.
Kemmu explained that a film’s overall budget, including marketing and production costs, is decided based on the revenue a star can bring in. “When you get a star who can bring in a certain amount of money, their remuneration is calculated around that. But, of course, now some stars are charging so much that it has become lopsided - the actor is taking more than the film itself.”
Kunal also pointed out that the conversation around pay parity would change if female-led films consistently delivered the same box office pull as male-driven blockbusters.