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Global icon Priyanka Chopra is one of the most loved and successful actresses not only in Bollywood but also in Hollywood. Over the years of her acting career, Priyanka has established her name, and proved her worth as a versatile actor. Let’s revisit the time when Priyanka Chopra opened up on pay disparity in the industry. Read on to know more.
Priyanka Chopra On Pay Disparity In Bollywood
In an interview with BBC 100 Women, Priyanka spoke about pay disparity in showbiz and being body-shamed because of her complexion. PC shared, “I’ve never had pay parity in Bollywood. I would get paid about 10% of the salary of my male co-actor. It (pay parity) is large, substantially large. And so many women still deal with that. I’m sure I will too if I worked with a male co-actor now in Bollywood. My generation of female actors have definitely asked for equal pay. We’ve asked, but we’ve not got it. I thought it was absolutely okay to sit for hours and hours on set, while my male co-actor just took his own time, and decided whenever he wanted to show up on set is when we would shoot.”
Priyanka Chopra Recalled Her Initial Days In Bollywood
Priyanka further reminisced about her earlier days in Bollywood, where she was body-shamed for her skintone. The Heads of State actress said, “I was called ‘black cat’ and ‘dusky’. I mean, what does dusky even mean in a country where we are literally all brown? I thought I was not pretty enough; I thought I had to work a lot harder, even though I thought I was probably a little bit more talented than my fellow actors who were light skinned. But I thought that was right because it was so normalised.”
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She continued, “Of course, that comes from our colonial past. It’s not even been 100 years since we shed the British Raj, so we still hold on to it., I think. But it is up to our generation to be able to cut those ties and change it so that the next generation doesn’t inherit the equality placed on light skin,” she added.
Priyanka Chopra Says Hollywood Gave her Pay Parity
Priyanka Chopra was also quizzed about how different Hollywood is, when it comes to pay parity. She said, “Well, the first time it’s happened to me, it has happened in Hollywood. So, I don’t know how to move forward. Because this was my first show with a male actor as a co-lead.” (referring to US spy series Citadel)
Priyanka Chopra’s Initial Struggle In Hollywood
Despite having an illustrious acting career in Bollywood, Priyanka still had a fair share of struggle for a decade to carve a niche for herself in Hollywood. “I would go into meetings by myself, introduce myself, and take my show reel. I worked with acting coaches and dialect coaches. I did auditions, got rejected, cried, then went back for another one. I did the hustle that I needed to do to make it in any new industry. It was a humbling experience. I think maybe I have built a certain amount of credibility, and so I’m doing interesting work. We’ll see if that is accepted or not. It’s really hard to be South Asian and Indian in Hollywood. There’s still a long way to go,” she concluded.
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