"I Would Love To Get Paid As Much As Male Co-stars", Says Kareena Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor during a conversation with filmmaker Karan Johar and actress Alia Bhatt spoke about gender bias shown towards pay structure in the industry. Jio MAMI Movie Mela was held in Mumbai and was a star-studded event.

Kareena Kapoor also requested the filmmaker to pay her as much as he pays to Akshay Kumar. This would be the first time that the actress spoke openly about pay disparity in the industry.

When she was asked if she quit a film over low pay scale offered, to which Kareena Kapoor said, "There were probably different reasons of walking out of films, but not because of this particular reason. I'd love to get paid as much as my male co-stars though."

KJo also told Kareena Kapoor that many would assume that she's being paid as much as actor Akshay Kumar in the upcoming film Good Newwz (which Karan produces), to which she said, "Please pay me as much as you paid Akshay Kumar... I'll run out of MAMI!".

Karan Johar in his book, An Unsuitable Boy had mentioned about an incident in which he recalls how Kareena Kapoor demanded huge amount of money for Kal Ho Naa Ho.

This had led to a major fallout between Kareena and Karan after Preity Zinta was signed opposite Shahrukh Khan. The feud between duo made huge headlines, however, they both became close friends a year later.

During the conversation at JIO MAMI, Karan Johar also explained the entire pay structure of a film. Karan Johar said, "Many times, people make sweeping statements about it (pay structure). I'm the first person who'll always want to pay what is completely right and justified and valid. I've always done it. But I feel there's a larger understanding of the budget versus the verticals that you sell on digital and satellite that are driven by different data."

"Sometimes the data of satellite and digital look at the history of the artiste, male or female, I'm not specifying and that determines a certain price factor and which then determines the final cost of what you pay," he added.