During an exclusive interview with Movified, filmmaker Kabir Khan weighed in on the long-standing debate around payment disparity between male and female actors in the film industry, and offered a perspective rooted in business over bias.
When asked why male actors are often paid more than their female counterparts, Kabir called it a “misunderstood argument.”
He elaborated, “Deepika Padukone gets more than a lot of male actors. It’s not as simple as ‘female actors are always underpaid.’ Even among men, the least popular actor gets paid less than the most successful one. It’s about business, about who’s drawing the audience to the theatres.”
Khan emphasized that the film industry runs on market dynamics, not just ideology. “Whoever brings in the viewers, whether it’s an actor, director, man or woman — they deserve to be paid what they’re worth. Deepika consistently pulls crowds, so she rightly commands the fee she does,” he stated.
However, he acknowledged that the top-tier male actors still earn more, and that “it’s a balance we all need to work toward, but you can’t force it.”
When asked if there’s something else he wishes would change in the industry, Kabir brought attention to the lack of true inclusivity across regions. “There’s still a North-South divide. We need to include all parts of the country, not just in casting and production but also in storytelling,” he said.
He added, “Inclusivity also means respecting the diverse linguistic and cultural landscape of India. In the end, we are one country, and that unity should reflect in our cinema too.”
Kabir Khan’s views highlight a pragmatic yet progressive approach to addressing industry inequalities, balancing fairness with commercial realism, and making space for broader inclusivity as Indian cinema evolves.