The Big B of Bollywood recently confided that Deepika Padukone, his on screen daughter in the critically acclaimed Piku was paid more than him. Fans and the industry have been taken aback by this piece of information coming from Mr. Bachchan himself.
While giving an interview about his upcoming movie PINK by Shoojit Sircar, he said,
‘I dunno if this is relevant or not. Whether because of circumstances this has happened but I can tell you one thing, in Piku, Deepika Padukone was paid more than me and that says two things – one that she is obviously more important than me and two I have lost my price tag because I have been working for so long. Maybe I am not so important.’
The pay disparity in Bollywood is the current topic under discussed widely by the industry members. Many actresses including Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Kareena Kapoor and Sonakshi have all spoken time and again about the wage disparity among genders in Bollywood.
Deepika on the other hand has grown steadily over the past years and has come to a point where her stardom can single handedly drive a film to success. Deepika Padukone is the highest paid actress in Bollywood. She receives nearly 10-12 crore per movie. Salman Khan, the highest paid actor in Bollywood, is paid a whopping 60 crore for each movie. That’s nearly a 4 fold jump! Amitabh Bachchan is the third highest paid actor in Bollywood and is normally paid between 18-20 crore per movie. It is a welcome change to see actresses getting paid their due.
Also, Deepika recently entered Hollywood's top 10 paid actresses. Deepika Padukone is the only Indian and the only newcomer in the list. Deepika’s total earning in Hollywood is estimated to be a whooping 10 million U.S. dollars. Deepika will next be seen in her debut Hollywood movie with Vin Diesel- XXX, Return of Xander Cage. The third movie of the XXX franchise has not even hit the screens yet! The International icon has not signed any other film in Hollywood yet is currently awaiting the release of XXX.
Back home, Deepika Padukone will next be seen with Ranveer Singh in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati for which is she is paid a stunning 12 crore. The movie is the actress’s third movie with Bhansali and Ranveer after Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani. Deepika is currently on the top of her game in India, after all her recent outings in the past few years have been smashing hits- Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express, Ram Leela, Happy New Year, Piku, Tamasha and Bajirao Mastani.
You go girl!