Wage Gap: When Aishwarya was paid more than Abhishek

Abhishek Bachchan talks about a time when he worked in multiple films with Aishwarya where she got paid more than he did.

Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan has featured in multiple movies alongside his wife, Aishwarya Rai. Talking about the wage gap, the actor talks about how many actors have raised an issue about how they often receive a smaller remuneration than their male counterparts for the same work.

He reveals that his wife Aishwarya was paid more than him in eight out of nine movies that they have done together.

Advertisement

Talking about gender parity and equality in wages, the actor said, “There’s a huge debate on gender parity in the film business and other industries. I’ve worked in nine films with my wife and eight of those, she’s got paid more than I have. The highest-paid actor in Piku was Deepika (Padukone). It’s a business and if you are a saleable actor, you get paid accordingly. You can’t be a new actress and demand to be paid the same as Shah Rukh Khan.”

During an event in 2018, when filmmaker Shoojit Sircar questioned Abhishek if he would be fine with Aaradhya’s choice of joining the industry, the actor replied, “No. But before I answer that, I would like to give this some context and perspective. The two women who are close to me, my mother and my wife have worked in the industry on their terms. They’ve never been forced to do anything they didn’t want to do.”