Actress and director Konkona Sensharma has always been bold enough to tell things how they are in the film industry.

The actress explained her experience with gender pay gap discrimination while describing her lucky escape from Bollywood's deep rooted patriarchal system.

Konkona Sen Sharma on breaking patriarchy

In her interview with News18, Konkona explained that many women in her industry encounter silencing and sidelining when they choose to speak out about their experiences.

She said, "I'm in a unique position of privilege. I've been an actor for so many years. I'm relatively well known so I may not be so easily dismissed. Education also plays a role here."

She also spoke directly about how her mother veteran filmmaker Aparna Sen has shaped that privilege.

She added, "I have a lot of privilege in this particular situation. So mine may not be the most common experience. But there are women who've suffered because of patriarchy and so have men. They aren't able to find a voice or even an opportunity unfortunately."

Konkona Sen Sharma on film gender gap

She explained that improvements exist because women now work as makeup artists on film sets. Other technical departments still move at a frustratingly slow pace.

She said, "Equal opportunity is a big one along with the gender pay gap that exists. In earlier films even till seven eight years back only men were allowed to be makeup artists and women were allowed to be hairdressers. But that has changed which is a wonderful thing."

About Konkona Sen Sharma

The actress is serving as director for her web series Welcome to Khoya Mahal which features Aditi Rao Hydari and Barun Sobti as main actors. The series will become available on the streaming platform between late 2026 and early 2027.