Here's what Ronit Roy has to say about Bollywood A Listers who have doubled their fees during pandemic

Ronit Roy finds it unfair that salaries of Bollywood’s top names have doubled during pandemic, pay cuts are the norm for everyone else in the industry.

For many in showbiz, a pay cut is a new norm as the industry tries to recover from its pandemic-led losses.

Actor Ronit Roy has said that while the salaries of top stars and celebs of Bollywood have doubled during the pandemic, the poor people working in the industry have to face the brunt of pay cuts. “I have verified information that all the A-listers have doubled their fees, aur gareebon ka paisa kaat rahe hain.This is something very wrong which is happening in our industry.” Ronit, who has been forthright on matters of money, said in a new interview.

"My funda is straight. Agar paisa nahin hai toh mat banao. What is the need? Try making a project when you have sufficient funds. According to me, it is all bulls**t when they try to cut salaries of people who don’t come from such affluent backgrounds. A lightman has to run his house, what will you get by cutting his salary? Pay cut karna hai toh A-lister ka pay cut karo na, why are you trying to just focus on the poor people for it? It is just not right," Ronit told to Hindustan Times.

"If you look at our Stock Exchange, it has gone up, and everything has become dearer. And you want to cut someone’s pay, how do you expect that person to run his/her house? That is the reason why we have raised the pay of our whole staff,” said the actor.

Ronit had faced a financial crisis during the pandemic. Ronit runs a security agency and had many stars in Bollywood among his clients, other than a few, everyone chose to withdraw. “At the time of my financial crisis, it was only Akshay Kumar sir, Amitabh Bachchan sir and Karan Johar who supported me, baaki saare bhag gaye saying, ‘Covid ke baad dekhenge (we will see after Covid)’. Now, I think yeh log Rs 5000 ya Rs 10,000 crore kahan leke jayenge.” Ronit, however, chose to keep his staff of 125 on rolls and dipped into his own savings to pay their salaries.

Talking to indianexpress.com, Ronit had called the year and a half gone by, a period of mourning for most. “It’s been a year and a half of mourning. There are several lessons to be learned from this. I have been a recluse for decade and a half now. I am slowly letting go of the chain that binds you to life or society. Since a decade and a half, there is me, my family, my work and my health. Nothing else. These are the only things I focus on. Yet there are lessons that I learned, which got refreshed."

He further added, "Sometimes you doubt yourself. But in this year and a half, I got the confidence that I am on the right path. Kabhi kabhi joh apna dikhta hai wo apna hota nahi hai… aur joh apna hota hai wo apne paas hota hai par hum dekh nahi pate. So, vision is clear and thoughts are clearer."

After going through the experience, Roy has understood that the rich people of the industry might have all the diamonds, emeralds and crores to their wealth list, but they have certainly failed the test of humanity, as he wonders, “Ab nahi hua toh kabhi nahi hoga”