Kajol brings up ‘Pathaan’ as she talks about pay parity; recalls receiving film offer from Mani Ratnam

Actor Kajol opened up about pay parity in Bollywood at the Jagran Film Festival in Delhi on August 3. She said one should only ask these questions after India starts making big-scale women-led films and they do as well as something like ‘Pathaan’.

She said, ‘When you start making a ‘Wonder Woman’ for India and it does equally well as a ‘Pathaan’, then maybe there will be pay equality.’

Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan’ earned over Rs 543 crore nett in India and was the highest domestic grosser of all time in Hindi cinema.

Kajol and SRK have starred together in many big Bollywood hits like ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’.

Kajol also recalled that she almost did a film with acclaimed director Mani Ratnam, but that didn't materialise as she had committed her dates to filmmaker Karan Johar for ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (1998).

Kajol said, ‘I was supposed to shoot for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and at that time, I got an offer from Mani Ratnam to do a film for him. First of all, I didn't believe I got an offer from Mr Ratnam. But things didn't work out because I had committed those dates to Karan for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. A lot of people told me, 'You should have done Mani sir's film'. At that time, I felt that my commitment was more important and it worked in my favour.’

When asked to choose between her two popular characters--Simran from ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ and Anjali from ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, she picked the latter.

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