Saif Ali Khan opens up on pay parity: 'It’s not like just because you are a certain gender you deserve'

Pay parity is often something discussed by many celebrities. Many female actors have often spoken about not getting the kind of pay as their male counterparts. In a recent interview, Saif Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu also shared their insights on it. The two actors believed that while they definitely do advocate for pay parity, there is some maths involved in it and it all depends on an actor's ability to get audiences to the theatres. They also pointed out that things are getting better now.

Saif who had appeared with Kunal on Soha Ali Khan's podcast said, "If the actors are of equal stature, they should be paid the same amount. But I also feel the economics work in a certain way. If you are putting people in seats in the theatre, you get paid accordingly. Everyone understands that relationship.”






He added, "It’s not like just because you are a certain gender you deserve to be paid more or less. It’s actually a very balanced economic system where people are clear that this person is a superstar because they are filling theatres. They know their worth, charge that price and get paid.”

Kunal, meanwhile, explained the “maths” behind how salaries are calculated in the industry, pointing out that in the past distributors could estimate a film’s recovery based on the stars attached to the project. “There is a maths to it. This is the mathematical part, not whether a film will work or not — that’s a different thing. Earlier, distributors knew that if I have this actor, I can sell a territory for a certain amount of money and that becomes part of the recovery,” he said.

He further explained that the total budget of a film—including production and marketing costs—is often planned around the revenue a particular star can generate. “When you get a star who can bring in a certain amount of money, their remuneration is calculated around that. But, of course, now some stars are charging so much that it has become lopsided — the actor is taking more than the film itself.”

Kunal also noted that discussions about pay parity could shift significantly if female-led films consistently matched the box office success of male-driven blockbusters such as 'Pathaan' or 'Jawan'. “If you are in a country where audiences are going and supporting a female-led action film the way they support something like 'Pathaan' or 'Jawan', then there would be no conversation around this. It would automatically happen.”

Recalling his experience on the Golmaal series, Kunal said that pay differences among actors are common even within the same project. “When we did Golmaal, there was Kareena and five other actors. I’m sure Ajay got paid more than her, and she got paid more than all of us. We were all on the poster, but that doesn’t matter. The film was about the couple.”

He added that the final decision on remuneration ultimately lies with producers, who determine payments based on what the project can sustain. “If I am making a film, I decide what I pay myself. But if I am making a film with five other people, I’ll do the math and say I can pay you only this much.”

Drawing a comparison with Hollywood, Kunal pointed out that star power influences salaries worldwide. “If I’m making Mission: Impossible, I will pay Tom Cruise for that. I can’t pay a female actor, even if she is Meryl Streep, that kind of money, because audiences are coming to see him. That is the nature of the business.”

Saif also reflected on how the industry has changed over the decades. He mentioned that female stars from earlier eras, including his mother Sharmila Tagore and the late Sridevi, were hugely popular but did not receive pay comparable to their male counterparts. “There was a time in the 1970s when huge movie stars like our mother Sharmila and later Sridevi were incredibly popular,” he said. “Audiences loved seeing Dharam ji with Zeenat Aman, but they were not getting paid anywhere close to the same.”

According to Saif, the situation has gradually begun to change in recent years. “Now there is more parity. If people say they really like actors like Ananya Panday or Kareena Kapoor, they are getting paid more. The world is balancing out. Earlier, patriarchy was much stronger than it is now.”Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”