Shabana Azmi advocates for equal work-equal pay, Juhi Chawla feels there's no competition with male counterparts

Mumbai, Jan 10: Veteran actress Shabana Azmi and Juhi Chawla recently visited the capital for promotion of their upcoming film 'ChalkNDuster'. While Juhi Chawla decided to break the silence on her recent comment about the gender pay disparity in the film industry, Shabana Azmi poured her heart out and urged the young male actors to take the lead in bringing about an 'actual change'.

Actress Juhi Chawla was subjected to a lot of criticism for her not-so-feminist comment on the gender-based pay gaps where she confessed that she never got upset over the existing wage gap and even accepted that her male counterparts would get paid more than her. When asked about her stand, she clarified that she is in no competition with anybody but only with herself. "I don’t think that to succeed in life you’ve to compete with anyone else. You’ve to compete with yourself".

The actress who is all geared up about playing the role of a teacher in her upcoming film believes that one should only be bothered about how much they've improved from the past days as 'life is a constant journey for improvement'. "Today, I should be better than how I was yesterday, and tomorrow I should be brighter than how I am today. If I can achieve that, then, I'll consider myself to be successful.”

Shabana Azmi, who believes that this wage gap is prevalent in the film industries all over the world took a firm stand and came up with a thought-provoking idea to end the existing gap. Understanding the current scenario, she said, "It's existing only because it's the male star who bring the bucks in the box office. No matter what you do, the female oriented films get much less money with limited reach due to which the budgets have to be controlled".

Appreciating the healthy trend of women in main stream cinema wanting to do more substantial roles and not just successful ones, she even lauded the new actresses willing to try out more and more.

Eulogizing Shah Rukh Khan for taking the first step towards bringing about a change, she said, "Shah Rukh Khan made a commendable gesture when he said that Deepika Padukone's name will come before his, which is lovely...but he needs to go beyond that."

The 'Fire' actress urged the big names of the industry to star in the female-oriented films with even some lesser important roles to bring about the equality. Challenging the existing pattern on casting in the films, "Just as it is perfectly acceptable that when you have any of the big heroes then the big heroines will come along and do a secondary role. So, why can't male young superstars also say 'alright I will do this film in which I have a less important role because I feel it's important'?"

"To begin with, we must get equal pay for equal work. It's a question of sensitizing the male actors towards the change, only then will the female actress' will get their due pay", she added.

The upcoming film 'ChalkNDuster' is all about highlighting the plight of teachers and to regain the nobility of the profession. Directed by Jayant Gilatar, the film features Juhi Chawla, Shabana Azmi and Divya Dutta in pivotal roles.