Unfair to demand equal pay unless you get big opening numbers: Taapsee

Mumbai, Aug 9 (PTI) Taapsee Pannu said she can only demand an equal pay if the opening box office numbers of her movies are as big as her male colleagues in the industry. The actor, who recently featured in “Naam Shabana”, said films like this and “Queen” and “Mary Kom” are still a rarity in Bollywood. “How many movies like these do you actually come across in a year? Probably one or two maximum. It’s unfair to ask for an equal pay when you’re not getting an equal amount of opening collection,” Taapsee told reporters. “The day the audience walks in the theatre and sees a female protagonist’s film, gives us the same amount of bumper opening of Rs 10-15 crores, that day I will say we need to be paid equally,” she added. The “Pink” star said male actors get bigger opening number as compared to female actors and that is something which needs to be changed. “Right now it’s unfair for producers to give us an equal amount of money because no matter how good the film is, like mine was this year’s biggest opener for a female protagonist film, but if you compare it with other male protagonist, they get far higher (opening).” Taapsee, who will be next seen in “Judwaa 2”, refuted reports that she has been signed by Anurag Kashyap to star in his next. “Anurag Kashyap has never even approached me with a script, so I don’t know what are these talks of a film about. Right now, I haven’t signed anything. I’ll proudly announce it, you don’t have to wait for any rumour,” she said. PTI