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The Deepika Padukone 8-hour shift debate: When the industry confuses discipline for defiance!

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Sakshi Sharma
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Deepika Padukone

What began as gossip about a superstar’s exit from two films, has snowballed into one of Bollywood’s most necessary conversations about time, gender, and sanity.

Deepika Padukone’s name has lately been doing the rounds for everything except her films. From the clothes she wore in a tourism ad for another country to the projects she’s reportedly walked out of, she’s been the centre of a conversation that says more about the industry than about her. First, it was Spirit, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s next with Prabhas, followed by the Kalki 2898 AD sequel - two big-ticket projects, both co-incidentally starring Prabhas. With Spirit, the fallout turned public when Vanga took to X (Twitter) for a thinly veiled jab, soon after which Triptii Dimri was announced as her replacement. Whispers of “dirty PR” filled the air. Then came Kalki, where the production house, Vyjayanthi Movies, released a carefully worded statement saying that Padukone’s exit came after “careful consideration,” as the project required a “higher level of commitment.”

No matter the treatment or the words, the translation in between the lines was pointing to the same problem which is her reported demand for an eight-hour working shift. Something that, in most professions, is considered not just fair but standard. But in the world of Indian cinema, it somehow became a scandal or bait for ‘headline news’.

Also Read: The Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga fallout has sparked a wave of introspection!

Until now, things that might've been true were more in the grey area of speculation as Padukone hadn’t spoken about any of it. Then, in a recent CNBC-TV18 interview, she finally did. Calmly but firmly, she stated her point and called the industry “disorganised” and pointed out the hypocrisy everyone pretends not to see. 

What Padukone asked for isn’t defiance; it’s discipline. Yet in an industry that thrives on chaos and calls it passion, structure is almost treated as rebellion. Because the Indian film industry loves to operate with a “chalta hai” attitude, a system built on people, not policies, running on exhaustion and goodwill instead of accountability. The point is that if this is an “industry”, the keyword here being an industry, why doesn’t it function like one? Because in all honesty, every corporate setup works within defined hours, has policies, systems, and boundaries, something that an HR looks over. Cinema, meanwhile, treats people as resources on call 24/7, from actors to crew to spot boys. A 12-hour day is "politely" called a “shift,” as filmmaker Hansal Mehta puts it, before asking the more important question - where’s the time for mental health, physical well-being, or even a day off? Especially for those who work on daily wages, for whom every hour literally counts.

Cinematographer Krish Makhija of The Mehta Boys echoed the sentiment in a conversation with us. He stated that if you gather a group of filmmakers and the one shared complaint will be about the time commitment required for this profession. Twelve-hour schedules stretch into sixteen or eighteen without question. Meals are skipped, exhaustion is glorified, and the idea of family time sounds almost fictional. Then it’s almost poetic and tragic that a creative industry known for holding up mirrors to society refuses to look at its own reflection. We celebrate films that advocate empathy, balance, and emotional honesty, but the people making them are often working under conditions that deny them all three.

Yes, it’s understandable that filmmaking is not a 9-to-5 job as creativity isn’t mechanical. But to mistake burnout for dedication is outdated romanticism. Because it’s well acknowledged that a rested mind creates or produces better than a drained one. Maybe that’s why so much of mainstream cinema feels recycled because tired people are churning out tired ideas. So when one of the country’s biggest stars asks for a fixed eight-hour day, it doesn't feel like entitlement, it sounds like a basic need of work life balance. It’s a question of priorities - can the industry that demands realism on-screen afford to ignore it off-screen? And of course, the gendered double standard is impossible to ignore. As Padukone also pointed out, male actors have long dictated shoot schedules to fit their convenience, and the system bends around them without protest. But the moment a woman asks for the same, the language changes to she’s “difficult,” “demanding,” and “unprofessional.”

Padukone’s request and the reactions it sparked is really about something larger - this industry that has built itself on fatigue and hero worship, mistaking chaos for creativity. About a workforce that keeps running because no one ever stops to ask if it should. What started as gossip about an actress exiting two films has become something much more significant about a conversation this industry has avoided for too long. Because the truth is, Padukone isn’t asking for less work, she’s asking for better work. And aren’t we all demanding the same? If the system finds that unreasonable, maybe the problem isn’t her professionalism, it’s the industry’s refusal to professionalise itself. Almost turning this business built on dreams into cinema itself where maybe the real rebellion is in asking for rest!

What do you think of this issue? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Sandeep Reddy Vanga Kalki 2898 AD spirit Prabhas Hansal Mehta The Mehta Boys