Deepika Padukone opened up recently about the ongoing row over her 8-hour shift demand, which erupted after her exit recently from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit and Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2. Deepika called the industry “disorganised” and said that there is a need to bring some system into the culture.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Deepika spoke about the demand and said, “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.”
She added, “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 further said that the film industry doesn’t really function as an industry as she highlighted long hours and poor working conditions. “It is a very disorganised industry. It's time we brought in some system into this culture," she added.
The actor recently exited Spirit after reportedly demanding to work not more than 8 hours a day in order to be with her daughter. After that, the actor also left the second part of Kalki 2898 AD. The makers of the film issued a statement to make the announcement, saying that they parted ways with her after “careful consideration”, adding that a film like Kalki deserves a higher level of "commitment."
Meanwhile, Deepika is currently shooting for Shah Rukh Khan’s King. The actor took to social media earlier to write a cryptic note, which many believed to be a dig at her recent decision to exit the two films. She wrote, “The very first lesson he taught me almost 18 years ago while filming Om Shanti Om was that the experience of making a movie, and the people you make it with, matter far more than its success. I couldn’t agree more and have applied that learning to every decision I’ve made since.”
