EXCLUSIVE: Bhumi Pednekar's SHOCKING reply on bullying & pay disparity: I was paid 5% of what my co-star got
From discussing the shocking pay disparity that exists in Bollywood to talking about the Bala 'brown facing' controversy, Bhumi Pednekar gets talking about all and more in this candid conversation. Watch the full video inside.
Bhumi Pednekar has battled through a lot of odds in her four year old career. The actress has been ridiculed for putting on weight for her debut film but she reveals she has been bullied since she was a kid for different reasons. Here, she also discusses how people around her ask her not to do 'such films'. Along with this, Bhumi discusses the major Bala controversy where people slammed the makers for brown facing a dark skinned girl.
Talking about the same, she says, "Everyone has faced bullying. I have been fatshamed since I was a kid. I was always a chubby kid. Everything is a problem. If you're too short, it's a problem. If you're too tall, it's a problem. Hairy, not hairy, fair, dark, - everything is an issue."
There's rampant sexism that exists in the society at large and an ill that plagues the film industry is the shocking pay disparity between men and women. Bhumi reveals that she's been a victim of the same. "In the early years, it used to be a huge problem. I'm not going to compare my pay to somebody's who has been in the industry for so many years. I can't be someone who's not able to attract a large audience but expects a crazy pay. There has to be a logic behind it. I have been in a situation where I was paid 5% of what my male actor got, even though we had the same number of hits and our career graphs have been similar." But she adds, "Things have changed tremendously. There's this wave of films that's led by female characters and it's empowering to be a part of these."
Watch the full video right here: