Kal Ho Naa Ho director Nikkhil Advani recently opened up about the misogyny in Bollywood, revealing why women makeup artists are often fired on movie sets, while those in the hair department are not.

Speaking at O Womaniya rountable panel on Prime Videos, Nikkhil explained why Bollywood hires a hair didi and a makeup dada. "When a man touches (the back of a woman’s neck), there are sexual things that are aroused. That’s why there is a hair dada and a makeup didi. The union did not allow this!" Co-panelist Richa Chadha was left shocked by Advani's revelation.

Further, Nikkhil explained the logic behind it and said that when a woman touches woman actor's hair, there is no risk of arousal. "I was like, 'What?' When we started working with Mickey Contractor, we had to get him to hire a woman. But suppose there was someone from the union there, the hair didi had to stand quickly," he added.

Nikkhil stated that when he was studying budget-related documents for a project, he was shocked to know only nine jobs are considered relevant for women. "There are 169 line items, above the line and below the line. Do you know how many are considered relevant jobs for women? Take a guess. Nine. Nine are relevant jobs for women. Everything else is considered unsuitable for women,” he said.

Further, the director stated that the streaming industry has more intelligent people compared to the theatrical industry. "This is a blanket statement. There are more interesting filmmakers, storytellers, writers, and they are thinking about things other than just the box office… This is just tokenism, that there are 15% women on crews," he concluded.