Sharing her thoughts, Kriti said, “It is changing; it’s a slow change though. A long time ago, in the era of Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi and even Meena Kumari, women had meaty roles and led films. Then there was a dip in the middle where there wasn’t much for a female actor, characters were written as love interests without backstories. We are changing back to writing layered roles for women. And to characters which are no longer written from a male gaze. A lot of female actors are hungry to choose such roles.”
Kriti also addressed the issue of pay parity in the industry and acknowledged that a significant gap continues to exist between male and female actors.
She added, “There is a huge gap between what a female actor gets and what a male actor gets. That gap will reduce because now, it’s no longer just the star who guarantees a good opening, it’s also the story and the content. People want to go to the theatre for content. When a female-driven film is given the same scale and budget as a male-driven film, it will look larger than life. A man always has this “larger-than-life” entry; if you make a female-driven film that way, it will attract more viewers and make money, which will equalise pay parity.”
