Nothing succeeds like success. After the stupendous success of The Dirty Picture, Vidya Balan’s popularity is growing and so does is her market price. The buzz is that Vidya Balan is now demanding a mind-boggling `7 crore for a film. This puts her a step above Kareena Kapoor’s astronomical fees (`6 crore) for Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine. No actress in the history on Indian cinema has had the courage of quoting a figure as big as `7 crore.
During the promotions of the The Dirty Picture, Vidya had categorically mentioned that it was the script and the role that would always be her priority. “I’m interested in doing a good role than worrying about my remuneration,” she had said. But has success changed her priorities? The actress has always been known as a quality actor, right from her debut film Parineeta. With no film background, Vidya’s growth as an actor happened with quality films — No One Killed Jessica, Ishqiya, Paa — and a pragmatic approach. But whether it’s Vidya or Kareena, no actress will get performance-oriented roles like Heroine or TDTP every time. So, how will they justify and sustain the amount they are demanding?
Arjun Rampal who doesn’t mind playing second fiddle to the actresses says, “Actors will increase or cut down their fees according to the business their films have done. They are in their position to take a call. So why make them feel like criminals?”
Film critic Tanuj Garg, however, has a different take on this issue. “Firstly, it’s not daily that female-oriented films like The Dirty Picture or No One killed Jessica come by. We cannot run away from the fact that we live in a male dominated society and that men will always be paid more than the women in the industry. Besides, very few women like Vidya, Rani or Kareena can carry a film on their shoulders. Making it a blanket trend is unlikely.”