Mr Bachchan, who won the Best Actor National Award for Piku, told media: "In Piku, Deepika Padukone was paid more than me. That says two things - one that she is obviously more important than me and two I have lost my price scale because I have been working for so long and maybe I am not that important now to get that kind of money."
Piku director Shoojit Sircar corroborated this with a nod and added: "But what's the harm? If the woman's character is that then it's okay.
For example, everybody asked me if Piku is a woman-centric film. I said, 'Why? Because a woman has a stronger character, that's why it's a woman centric film?' There are many films with only heroes but that is not a man-centric film. So don't see a film like that.
Because there is a woman's picture on the poster, it's a woman-centric film? It's a cinema, it's a film, it's a story. Maybe, she is the hero of the film and that's how you should see it."
Watch Amitabh Bachchan reveal that Deepika Padukone's Piku salary was bigger than his:
