Although producers invest up to 10 million in a movies, actresses aren’t even paid a quarter of a million. Most of the actresses in Nepali movie industry are paid in the range of Rs. 100,000, a fraction of what is paid for a male actor. Some actresses who don’t care to earn money but only want to be featured in a movie further evaluate the money paid to actresses.
Although some actresses complain about the remuneration they get, others can’t press the producers for a better price. Rekha Thapa, the top actress in Nepali film industry, still gets offers below Rs. 100K. Although she claims that she doesn’t accept offers less than a quarter million, other actresses don’t do so. For example, actresses like Richa Ghimire, Nandita KC, Sanchita Luitel do work for less. Although new actresses are more conscious on price and when better known actresses work for less, they don’t get opportunity.
In her debut movie ‘Sano Sansar’ actress Namrata Shrestha received 175,000 and now she doesn’t work for less than 250,000. Similarly Nisha Adhikari, Keki Adhikari, Richa Sharma, Priyanka Karki are some of new actress who have a minimum threshold on their remuneration. Having a fixed minimum pay-scale is one of the requirement for a professional. We hope our actresses will learn more about professionalism in coming days.
It is not only in case of actress, every crew member face the similar problem. The only solution to the problem is to practice professionalism. Related organizations should study the case and should create awareness programs.