Priyanka Chopra is returning to home turf after her wrapping up her work on the third, very controversial, season of Quantico, her movies A Kid Like Jake and Isn't It Romantic? PeeCee will play female lead opposite of Salman Khan in Ali Abbas Zafar's Bharat.
Even before the movie goes on floor, it has put Priyanka in the same club as Deepika Padukone to make her one of the highest paid actresses in Bollywood.
According to a report by Mid-Day, Priyanka has charged Rs 12 crore to be part of Bharat. This is the same amount Deepika Padukone was paid to play the lead role in Padmaavat. Reportedly, Deepika was paid more than her male co-stars, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor.
Priyanka Chopra has been vocal about gender pay gap in the entertainment industry, be it Hollywood or Indian film industry. In an earlier interview, she had said, "I think gender pay gap is a global problem. It exists in every profession, be it Hollywood, Bollywood or the business sector where males are paid more than females. I feel it's a big problem and is not just confined to the film industry. My appearance on the top 10 list Forbes 100 celebrity list highlights the same problem."
Her Bharat co-star Salman Khan had topped the 2017 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list with earnings of Rs 232.83 crore.
The Baywatch star also raised a question about how women are being paid. "I feel very happy about the fact that I am at a position at least at some point I am on the same level as my male counterparts are as it usually does not happen in the film industry. But at the same time, I also raise a question why they are no more actresses on the top 10 list."
Deepika Padukone has also been one of the advocates of pay equality. She had said, "If you comparing our pay scale with the men, then yes it is very less. If you are comparing what girls used to get before and what they are getting in the last one or two years then I can say that there has been a major shift and we are hoping and trying. But this is not a war."
With Deepika and Priyanka setting new standards, let's hope it will pave way for others to follow the suit.
