Hot Bipasha Basu Blasts Boys-world Bollywood

It’s no secret that Bollywood is, and has always been a male-dominated industry. The men get paid more, and enjoy much longer, illustrious careers, while their female equivalent see their fee and film offers reduce greatly once they hit 30.

Bipasha Basu, possibly the most forthright and outspoken actress in Bollywood (bar perhaps Kareena Kapoor) has seconded this viewpoint in a recent interview.

She explains that being an actress, she has to plan her career and personal life carefully and meticulously in an attempt to overcome these barriers.“It’s a man’s industry and it’s never going to change. There is no use pointing out our stand verbally or through action”, Bipasha said.

One of the big factors determining an actress’ success is their love life. Once an actress is in a relationship, their options get reduced significantly. “Your personal life has an indirect impact on the offers that come your way. Once you are bonded into any relationship, the choice is limited and one has to make the right moves,” she added (perhaps explaining the reason why she and long-time beau John are yet to tie the knot).

The obvious inequality still may come as a surprise to many - myself included. While actors such as Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor have been happily married throughout their careers, for women it’s practically career suicide; it’s almost blasphemy in Bollywood for an actress to marry at the height of her profession. The only actress I can recall that performed such a rebellious act was Kajol, and now she is restricted to movies directed by hubby Ajay.Madhuri Dixit famously held-off marriage until she was near the end of her career, while Ash settled into her thirties before she married Abhishek, the son of the legendry Amitabh Bachchan.

Another obvious inequality is the pairings in Bollywood. While actors get older, their heroines get younger. To date, Akshay Kumar, now in his forties, has been paired alongside (in vague chronological order) Madhuri Dixit, Ayesha Jhulka, Shilpa Shetty, Karishma Kapoor (later binned in favour of younger sister Kareena), Priyanka Chopra - and his most recent partner in crime, Katrina Kaif.

Since they’re churning out box office gold, nobody seems to bat an eyelid at the fact that there is at least fifteen years between Katrina and Akshay. But that’s nothing compared to Anil Kapoor (48) and Sameera Reddy (25); while daughter Sonam Kapoor makes her movie debut, Anil is acting opposite a woman of the same generation as her. Then there’s Shah Rukh and Deepika, Govinda and Katrina… the list goes on and on.

The real question is, as women are snapping at actors’ heels by increasing film fees - seemingly narrowing the pay gap - will they be free to marry, and more importantly, free to age like their male counterparts? In essence, will their ever be equality in Bollywood? Share your thoughts…