Varun Dhawan Might NOT Be Getting Paid Rs 35 Crore for the Dance Movie With Katrina Kaif

Varun Dhawan and Katrina Kaif are coming together for the first time in a dance movie directed by ABCD fame Remo D'Souza. Touted as India's biggest dance film, the yet-untitled movie was in news when it was 'disclosed' that Varun Dhawan was paid Rs 35 crore as remuneration, while Katrina Kaif was paid Rs 7 crore as her fees. This triggered the age-old debate on gender-based pay gap disparity in the industry.

None of the people involved in the project have officially confirmed on this, and we don't expect them to. After all, who likes to discuss salaries with outsiders? That's said, it is a given that Varun could be getting paid more than Katrina. However, we have to ask this - is Varun really getting paid Rs 35 crore for the movie?

As per a report in Bollywood Hungama, a source close to the development has refuted this news. The source revealed,  “This is someone’s idea of celebrating Varun Dhawan’s superstardom without consulting him. No doubt he’s a huge star. But not huge enough to be paid the money you’ve heard. It’s substantially less than Rs 35. Closer to Rs. 15-20 crores." Makes sense!

However, the source doesn't deny that Katrina Kaif gets paid less than Varun Dhawan. It continued, “Katrina has of course been given a lot less than Varun. It’s always that way. Sadly, heroines no matter how big they are, do not draw the audience in. People flocked to Padmaavat for Sanjay Bhansali, not Deepika Padukone. The dance film will have Varun and Katrina in equal roles. But it’s Varun who will determine the film’s box office fate. Sad but true.”

While gender-based pay disparity is a sensitive issue, it is a fact that producers pay stars based on who has the bigger box office pull. Katrina Kaif might have starred in Bollywood's biggest movie of 2017, Tiger Zinda Hai and she was really good in it. But the fact is that the movie rode purely on Salman Khan's power. Similarly, Varun Dhawan has a nearly cent per cent success rate at the box office, and, like it or not, has a bigger box office pull than Katrina Kaif. Therefore, the producers would look at paying him more than Katrina, despite her being the senior co-star. It works the other way around too - we are sure Alia Bhatt is paid more than her co-star Vicky Kaushal in Raazi for being the bigger box office draw. But Varun being paid Rs 35 crore? That's a story we have to take with a pinch of salt!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2018 01:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).