Pooja Bhatt Reacts To Facing Gender Bias, Says People Tried To Curtail Her To Behave In A Certain Way

Pooja Bhatt recently made her acting comeback with the Netflix show Bombay Begums. Pooja who is being praised for her performance in the show, plays the role of a woman leading a financial institution, but constantly faces opposition from the male members of the board. The actress recently opened up about the bias women face in any industry.

Recalling her experience in the entertainment industry, she told IANS, "I was very privileged to be born to parents where there were no different rules for my mother or father, and I was never given the feeling that just because I am a female child, I should not have those opinions or shouldn't lead my life like that. For me, the problem only began when I became a part of the industry and became a star."

Pooja revealed that she was expected to be a certain way, but was never okay with it. Calling it a 'Hindi film heroine' pattern she shared that not behaving in that way caused friction between her and certain sections of the media. While there was appreciation for her good work, she added, "there was a lot of trying to hone me and curtail me to behave in the way I was meant to behave. But I refused to be curtailed."

The actress turned producer revealed that there was some tiff even when she tried to become a producer. She was told to continue working in front of the camera because she was young and it was the men who were supposed to make the movies. But Pooja didn't give up and has now produced about 10 films, in which she did not discriminate between her male and female actors.

Talking about pay parity, she added that the female actors have been paid more than the male actors and it was because of the work. "This has happened in films where the female characters were in pivotal roles. The role decides. You know what you need to spend where. The person who has to give more time to the film and things are riding on them, they take the fatter pay cheque!" she said.

Notably, apart from Bombay Begums, Pooja was also seen in Mahesh Bhatt and Alia Bhatt's Sadak 2 in a cameo appearance.