By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS): If the BAFTA-nominated young Bollywood actor Adarsh Gaurav gets an opportunity to change anything about India, it is the persistence of pay disparities based on gender.

"If we wish to build a better society, we need to stop gender-based pay disparities," Gaurav said. "We're constantly talking about gender equality and there are many areas that are needed to be worked on, including changing our mindset, but I would like to stress on the issue of pay disparities. It exists even in the film industry."

Gaurav started acting from a young age and has appeared in films such as 'My Name Is Khan', 'Mom' and the short film 'Rukh' alongside Manoj Bajpayee, but he was acclaimed for his character 'Balram Halwai' in the Oscar-nominated film, 'The White Tiger'. It was this role that got Gaurav the BAFTA nomination for Leading Actor.

Continuing on the subject of gender-based pay disparities, he said, "If I only talk about the principal actors of a film, whether male or female, both of them are working for an equal number of days and putting in an equal amount of work based on the demands of the characters they play.

"Then why just because one is a man and the other is a woman, there should be a pay disparity? I know pay disparities exist everywhere but being an actor I can only talk about our industry. Pay disparities based on gender exists and I think we should put an end to that."

Gaurav also spoke up in favour of "the freedom of creative expression". As an artiste, he said, he felt strongly about industry practice of making remake films.

"I believe that making remakes takes away the freedom of originality," Gaurav said. "Creating anything original, be it a story, song or anything, takes time but it is worth investing our energy in it. To create an original story, we have to be very, very rooted, observant and well-aware of things happening around us," he added.

Continuing on the subject, Gaurav said: "Creativity, as in inspiration, comes from reality, and when we make films based on reality it creates in an instant with the audience. It also reaches a global audience because the story is more authentic, and therefore better."