Hema Malini on how her mother handled film producers in the 1970s

Bollywood icon and politician Hema Malini has debunked the long-standing belief that she was the highest-paid actress of the 1970s and 1980s. Speaking on a podcast, the "Dream Girl" revealed that stars of her generation received mere fractions of the massive paycheques commanded by modern actors, emphasizing that her career choices were never driven by monetary gains. Malini shared that she never placed financial demands on filmmakers, crediting her mother, Jaya Chakravarthy, for managing her career with immense flexibility, often graciously accepting small payment envelopes "almost like alms (bheeksha)" to accommodate struggling producers.