90s actress Sheeba, married to filmmaker Akashdeep Sabir, recently spoke with senior journalist Bharathi S. Pradhan for Lehren Retro. They discussed the attack on Saif Ali Khan, with Akashdeep teasing Kareena Kapoor Khan for charging crores but not affording a security guard. Let's see what they shared about the male-dominated industry, actresses' fees, and the incident.
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00:00Heroine pe toh depend karti hai nahi film. It's still a very male-centric, denominated
00:13cinema of ours.
00:14That time it was.
00:15Yeah. And then if you have a good equation with your actors, even if you're a bad, a
00:22flop heroine, theek hai chal jata hai.
00:25That much it didn't matter to the heroine those days.
00:28Not so much.
00:29They still got films with, you know, doh gaane aur doh.
00:32Wohi, it's the same even now, na, ke ladkiyon ko toh mil jate hain.
00:37No, there are media parts now. There were props in the 80s, 90s, doh gaane, doh sexy
00:42scene, doh shower ke neeche, doh beach ke upar, aapka pack up.
00:47I don't know.
00:48Baki sab hero karega.
00:49But flop ka effect aaj ki tarikh bhi ladkon pe zyada hota hai.
00:53Agreed.
00:54Which is why the boys are paid so much more than girls.
00:58They are the ones who bring in the audience.
01:00They bring in the audience or they keep the audience out. It's up to them.
01:03We're not taking the onus at all.
01:05No, but pay parity is coming. Starting with Kareena, a few years back, she took her prize
01:09to double figures in crores, Deepika followed.
01:11Still not close to any of the boys.
01:13Then Shah Rukh agreed that the heroine's name should come above the boys.
01:17Too little, too late.
01:18Those are little gestures. They don't really matter.
01:20They make no difference. Nobody even sits through credits anymore.
01:24Everybody goes out to the loo, gets their popcorn.
01:27That's just notional. It's making us happy.
01:30It's got nothing to do with heroines. It's women.
01:33They are never satisfied.
01:35Itna kiya se still not satisfied.
01:37Ikkis ikkis crore upar heroine ki price ho gayi.
01:40Naam Akshay Shah Rukh se pehle aata hai.
01:42Ab mujhe bala, no no, too little. Toh kya kar le?
01:45Ikkis haqat ho gayi ladki ki, the boys are still taking 100 and 500.
01:49Still a huge disparity.
01:5199 plus B.
01:55So whatever, there's still a lot of disparity.
02:00No matter how much the heroine's pay packages increase, it's still not comparing to a boy.
02:07But why should women get more money than the hero if they are not bringing in the audience?
02:11That's my stand. However unfeminist it might sound.
02:16Look at Nalia's solo film, look at Kriti's solo film. Appreciation, but not those numbers.
02:22It doesn't bring in the numbers.
02:25You think Alu Arjun brought in the audience or was it Rashmika?
02:29Obviously Alu Arjun.
02:31Hardcore numbers.
02:33Even though she had a good role.
02:35But even then, it's Alu Arjun, it's not Rashmika who brought in the audience.
02:39Yup, yup, absolutely.
02:41So if she got 10 crore and he got something I can't count.
02:45So I think it's fair enough.
02:49We have to stop screaming about it.
02:53Because with a 21 crore price tag also, Kareena couldn't afford a watchman outside her house.
02:58Now you'll pay 100 and then you'll do something.
03:02Or a driver in the night.
03:05Auto!
03:07He's very bad, I'd want to sit with him.
03:12Kareena was my kid before she became an actress.
03:16You're going on Insta busy saying that Saif was my co-star.
03:21Sure.
03:23And I feel bad.
03:25Of course I feel bad.
03:27I don't like somebody getting emotional.
03:30I've fought on TV debates to favour Saif and Kareena.
03:35They're not very close friends.
03:38But I directed and produced Karishma, where Karishma Kapoor's debut on Saara.
03:43So the whole year, Kareena was not an actress.
03:45Even the Burani World Tours with Kareena, she was a little baby.
03:47She used to come along with a dignified, very distinguished couple.
03:52But two things in the debates when they used to ask me, why was there no security outside the house?
03:57So what if you live in a building?
03:59I mean, what is very funny is people...
04:01Oh no, it's a very safe building, it has 30 CCTVs.
04:03How does a CCTV bring a hand out and stop a chaur from coming?
04:07It can only help you to solve the crime.
04:09It doesn't stop crime.
04:10So just because you have 30 CCTVs in the building doesn't make it safe.
04:14So that and not having a full-time driver.
04:17No, no, we were just talking.
04:19And not having a full-time driver in the night.
04:21These are because of the pay parity that you're talking about.
04:25Most Mumbai homes don't have the space.
04:28For what?
04:29Staff overnight.
04:31You mean to say...
04:33Saif Ali Khan with his 20,000 crore properties.
04:38And Kareena getting her pay parity.
04:41They don't have a place to keep a guard.
04:45And they don't keep a guard to sleep.
04:48They keep a guard to stay awake at night.
04:50Exactly.
04:51I shall phone them up and ask them.
04:53No, no, I think they've been through shit.
04:56They have been through a lot.
04:58Let them recover because the media is making an issue out of nothing.
05:01And obviously they've been through much more than we all know.
05:04No, no, true, true.
05:06And the media has made it like Sushant Singh Rajput Mela.
05:09Why media?
05:10Channels.
05:11That's media.
05:12Why media?
05:13It's not media.
05:14You're giving them fodder.
05:15It's your public on social media.
05:17It's not got anything to do with social media.
05:19There are channels that say, we hate Bollywood.
05:21What your bloody Bollywood?
05:22And then 9pm you only want Sushant Singh Rajput, Shah Rukh Khan.
05:26No, no, what is this?
05:27You're milking TRP.
05:28You're after the channel.
05:30No, no, he's my friend.
05:31I love him.