Kareena Kapoor On Not Being Paid The Same As SRK, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan: 'Koshish Toh Jari Hai...'

Kareena Kapoor has established herself as a bankable actor in Bollywood. With nearly 25 years of work in her belt, the actress has established herself as a superstar. However, despite her success, she is still not paid as much as her male co-stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and even Saif Ali Khan. Kareena addressed this pay parity in a recent interview.

Kareena told NDTV, “No means no, so now it’s a time when you feel if this is not worthy enough for my character or worthy enough for myself, I’m not going to do it. And I will wait, I will push myself to do better so that they realise I’m equally good as my male counterparts. The ₹1,000 crore club? Koshish toh jari hai (I’ve been trying).”

“For young girls of today, saying ‘no’ should not make them feel that they’re not confident. No means no, whether it’s something you’re not comfortable doing, something you’re not comfortable wearing, or something you’re not comfortable eating, shape, size, a job you’re looking forward to doing, if you feel if it’s something less for you, one should not take it. One should be so self-assured that one can push oneself to achieve and do something better. So I think no as an answer should be something reassuring, rather than making you feel underconfident,” Kareena added.

In a previous interview, she mentioned how it took a while for people to take her seriously. Kareena told the Times of India, “People tend to overlook an actor’s gravitas if you are glamourous. If you see my choice of films, it proves this perception wrong. I have had a glamorous image, but I’ve never looked at myself like that. I prefer to keep my ear to the ground because it’s important for an actor to know the reality of a situation. I am focused on my performance. It took many films for people to take me seriously as an actor.”

Speaking about being recognised as Poo and Geet, Kareena added, “In the last 25 years, the first decade went in people assuming that I was Poo, and the other went in people thinking I am Bhatinda ki sikhni Geet. Maybe I am a mix of both. I want people to know that I am an actor who is very passionate about her job.”

“People like to see me in roles like Geet or Poo more, perhaps because they are more connected to the masses. In the next 25 years, I will try to play more different roles. While I have done films with superstars, which have been hits, I have also had a career that I have simultaneously built to prove myself as an actor. The X factor combined with talent and, of course, 30 per cent of luck is what takes you places,” she mentioned.