Ayyana Mane’s Kushee Ravi: ‘Why is it that producers don’t budget for a heroine’s remuneration?’
Kushee Ravi does not have unrealistic expectations and understands that the bigger draw of a film is the hero, but reckons that a heroine also has a dedicated audience.
Last Updated: 06.54 PM, May 14, 2025
After nearly a decade in cinema and a handful of projects, if there is one pet peeve that Dia-fame Kushee Ravi harbours, it is the ginormous pay gap between male and female artistes. The actress, who recently forayed into the web series space with the Kannada show Ayyana Mane , reckons that heroines don’t even get 30% of a hero’s remuneration. “The reality is that we have to negotiate a lot to even get the most basic deal. Sometimes, film teams approach me and are like, ‘Madam, we have no budget for the heroine’, and yet, want me to be seen in the project,” rued Kushee on a recent podcast, Rajesh Reveals.
Kushee Ravi: Big production houses are never ready to pay heroines
Kushee reasons that heroines put in a certain amount of effort, which ought to be compensated commensurately. Based on her personal experience, after having worked in Kannada, Telugu (Pindam ) and now Tamil cinema too, she reckons that there are different pay packages for heroines in each of these industries. In Kannada, Kushee says that she has been paid adequately by relatively small film teams, but with bigger production houses, even she was keen to work with them, she’d never get the payment she asks for.
“The reasoning for the bigger banners is that they are doing me a favour by giving me an opportunity to work with a big star and reap the benefits of the exposure one gets from such a project. Which is all fair, but I still need to put in an effort to do the job at hand, for which, I believe, I deserve to be paid. Sometimes I feel dejected and wonder why they would not be willing to part with, say, 30% of what they’ve given the hero. We work just as hard as them,” she said.
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The actress adds that she understands that the crowd puller will always be the hero, and audiences may not come to theatres exclusively for the heroine. “A very small proportion of audience may turn up for us also. Why is it, then, that you have no budgets for a heroine’s remuneration?” she asks.