New Delhi: Bollywood actress Kriti Sanon has been appointed as the Honorary Ambassador for Gender Equality by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The recognition comes at a time when the Mimi star has been increasingly vocal about using cinema to highlight pressing social issues, including gender-based violence and pay disparity in the industry.

Speaking about her new role to TV9, Kriti emphasised the power of cinema in shaping dialogue. “There are a lot of issues that we can talk about, and cinema is a medium through which we can do it. I feel cinema has a huge power if you want to say something or bring about any change in society and package it in an entertaining way,” she said.

The actress recalled her first project as a producer, Do Patti, which dealt with domestic violence. She explained that the film was not just a creative choice but a personal one. “It was an attempt to tell the story on the subject in the manner that has not been said before in cinema,” Kriti noted.

When asked about immediate changes she would like to see, the Don 3 actress stressed that transformation cannot happen overnight. “Change requires time, persistence. Like we heard the stories of these four girls who have come out of child marriage, but change cannot take place in one day,” she explained.

As part of her two-year association with UNFPA, Kriti will travel extensively for campaigns focusing on gender-based violence and child marriage. “I am going to be standing up with them for a lot of causes I deeply feel for, and there is a lot of field work I am going to do as they have planned for me,” she shared.

Turning the spotlight on Bollywood, Kriti underlined the urgent need for producers to back women-led stories with equal budgets. “Women need to start standing up for themselves definitely, but I would also like producers to have a heart to take risks and put money in female-centric films. If it is made at that level, it will also give the returns and that will change the course of pay parity hopefully,” she said.

While acknowledging that roles for women are improving, the actress admitted that patriarchal undertones still creep into scripts. Pay disparity, however, continues to disturb her the most. “Although things are changing, pay parity is one of the main things that upset you when you see a co-actor whose last few films didn’t do well getting paid five times more than you, and that pinches,” Kriti concluded.

(With inputs from Bharti Dubey)