Several male actors have worked eight hours a day for years, said Deepika Padukone in a recent interview, addressing the controversy surrounding her demand for an eight-hour work shift as a new mother, which led to her exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit.
“By virtue of being a woman, if that's coming across as being pushy or whatever, then so be it. But it is no secret that a lot of superstars, male superstars, in the Indian film industry, have been working for eight hours for years, and it's never made headlines,” said the 39-year-old actress, adding that a few actors also refuse to work on weekends.
"I don't want to take names now and make this into a whole thing, but it is very commonly, publicly known that a lot of male actors have been working for eight hours a day for years. A lot of them only work for eight hours Monday to Friday. They do not work on weekends," Deepika told news portal CNBC-TV18.
Deepika reflected on the “disorganised” nature of the film industry and emphasised the need for a more structured work culture.
Earlier this year, Sandeep Reddy Vanga seemingly took a dig at actress Deepika Padukone for allegedly “ousting” the script of his upcoming film Spirit and “putting down a younger actor”, possibly alluding to Triptii Dimri.
The tweet came days after Triptii replaced Deepika as the female lead for Spirit alongside Prabhas. Earlier, Deepika was set to play the female lead. However, she was later removed from the cast due to disagreements over remuneration and alleged unprofessional behaviour, as per media reports.
In September, production banner Vyajanthi Movies announced that Deepika has been dropped from Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD sequel. As per the social media post, the filmmakers hinted that they were unable to find a ‘partnership’ with Deepika despite working with her for a long time during the making of the first film.
Deepika is currently shooting for the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer King, directed by Siddharth Anand. The film is also expected to star Suhana Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Abhishek Bachchan and Jaideep Ahlawat.
