Zeenat Aman brings up persisting pay gap in Bollywood

Actress Zeenat Aman, who recently made her Instagram debut, has spoken up on the issue of pay disparity in Hindi cinema. The actress took to her Instagram and shared an old footage of her interview which happened during the shoot of 'Qurbani', while she was rehearsing for 'Laila O Laila'.

In the video, the actress can be seen dressed in the film's outfit and speaks about how 90 per cent of the time Hindi films back then had female actors playing ornamental roles.

She also shared a long note in the caption. Giving a background of the footage, she wrote: "In the late 70s, Keith Adam from the Australian Broadcasting Commission popped by the set of Qurbani, where I was rehearsing for 'Laila O Laila', and snagged himself an interview."

Talking about the progress of Hindi cinema in terms of sketching substantial roles for female actors, she wrote: "It's been nearly 50 years since this footage was shot, and the industry has changed immensely since. The roles available to women are clearly not just ornamental anymore."

However, the pay gap is something that still plagues Hindi cinema as she further mentioned in the caption: "What hasn't changed though is the gender pay gap. In my time I was lauded as the "highest paid female actor", but the disparity in the pay cheque between my male co-stars and myself was so vast it was laughable."

"The Zeenat you see in this clip was quite certain that half a century would be enough time to even the scales. So it disappoints me that even today women in the film industry don't have wage parity. Women have consistently put in the work, and I really think that the onus is now on our men - actors, directors, producers - to ensure that their female co-workers (not just stars) are paid fairly. It seems such a simple and obvious thing, and yet it would be revolutionary if any man actually did this," she concluded.

Ever since she made her foray on Instagram, the actress has been winning hearts with the content she posts and her captions.