Chopra jonas experienced equal pay to her male co-actor for the first time in her 22-year career. this was a stark difference to the 10% of her male co-actor’s salary she was paid in the indian film industry. she was also often called “black cat” and “dusky” when she started out in bollywood and had to work harder than her lighter-skinned counterparts.
Pay parity happened in her upcoming role in an action-packed spy series citadel, which is based in hollywood. she had to go to meetings on her own, take her show reel and work with acting and dialect coaches to carve a niche for herself overseas. this led to her becoming the first south asian to be the lead in a network television programme in the us, with thriller series quantico.
Pay parity happened due to the greater awareness to be more inclusive and diverse in hollywood. despite this, it is still difficult to get mainstream work for people of her ethnicity. she uses her platform to amplify the voices of those, especially children, whose voices don’t travel. she has also been associated with unicef for 15 years and has travelled to many countries to meet children affected by conflict and natural disasters. despite this, she has faced criticism in india for not commenting on domestic issues and her publicist intervened to stop her from responding. she explained that it is impossible to please everyone.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63883106?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
