MUMBAI: “Women need to be smart, nobody is going to empower them,” said Sonam Kapoor, a talented and outspoken actor, while expressing her views on the safety of women. “If we want change, we need to be the change. We can’t expect to talk about it and do nothing about it,” she added. Kapoor is the daughter of well-known actor-filmmaker Anil Kapoor.
In terms of equality, Kapoor believes female actors are not on a par with their male counterparts when it comes to remuneration in showbiz. “Things for female actors have not changed. To be very honest, people are trying, everybody is trying and that’s the best thing,” said Kapoor, who comes from an affluent film family.
She agrees that the remuneration bar should be upped, but feels that she is not the right person to talk about it. “Like I said, we need to do it. It’s easy for me to make these choices because I have got a comfortable background. So, I am going to be the last person to be judgmental about anybody.”
“I am not even trying to be modest about it. There are people who can do it. Those who are strong in this industry — successful girls like Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Sonakshi Sinha — they can voice their opinion. I have a long way to go,” she said.
However, she pointed out that film-making is a business and remuneration is directly linked to box-office profits. “At the end of the day, the film industry is a business. If we are not going to make that kind of money for them (the film-makers), they are not going to pay us that kind of money.”
Is the profit margin shared with the actors? “You get the profit margin if you are the lead of the film and if the film is being sold on your name, then you do get it. That’s up to you and your lawyers, agents, etc. So, you can be smart about it.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2014.
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