Kareena Kapoor breaks silence on rumours around playing Sita

Months after she was rumoured to have demanded a huge amount to play the role of Sita in a film, Kareena Kapoor Khan broke silence on it and spoke about the claims. She has said that she was never offered the film in the first place. (Also read: Kareena Kapoor calls Forrest Gump ‘elitist, classist film’, Twitter reacts)

Kareena was rumoured to have hiked her fees, and demanded ₹12 crore for playing Sita in an adaptation of the Hindu mythological epic Ramayan. A Bollywood Hungama report had claimed last year that Kareena earlier charged ₹6-8 crore but she doubled her fees for the film. It was said that the film would take up several months of work for Kareena, hence she demanded a huge amount.

Asked about Ramayana and how the topic of pay disparity was twisted into something else, because of heavy trolling, Kareena told Zoom, “The reason I never gave an explanation is because I was never offered that film. I don’t even know why I was put into that because I wasn’t the choice for the film. These all are made-up stories and I don’t want to put anybody down because maybe even they need stories. Every day people are looking for some sort of stories on Instagram but I don’t know where it came from.”

Kareena’s actor-husband Saif Ali Khan is playing Lankesh in another film inspired by the Ramayan, Adipurush. Lankesh is another name for Ravana, the antagonist in Ramayan.

Soon after the rumours started doing the rounds last year, a few Twitter users claimed that their religious sentiments were hurt as Kareena hiked her fees to play Sita. It also triggered a debate on whether similar questions would be asked if it was about a male actor hiking his fees.

Kareena is currently gearing up for the release of Laal Singh Chaddha, which stars Aamir Khan in the titular role of Laal, while she essays the role of Rupa in the film. Mona Singh plays Aamir’s onscreen mother in Laal Singh Chaddha that is directed by Advait Chauhan.