When it comes to celebrities, controversies are a daily phenomenon, with every comment potentially leading to a social media storm. A recent addition to this is actor Deepika Padukone’s exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s upcoming film Spirit, reportedly over her pay and a demand for an 8-hour workday. Her exit and replacement with actor Tripti Dimri was followed by a controversial tweet by Vanga taking a jibe at an unnamed actor’s feminist beliefs, which many believe was directed at Padukone. Amid the heated debate on social media, netizens, including prominent film fraternity members have publicly commented on the issue. From discussing challenges faced by working mothers to the importance of professionalism in the industry, Bengalureans share their two cents.
Directors like Sandeep Reddy Vanga, known for their subtle misogyny in movies, are threatened by respected actors like Deepika Padukone who know their worth. His failure to offer Padukone the money she charged just because the male character had to be accommodated shows how little he thinks of the women in the cinema industry. So many directors in Indian cinema often look down upon actresses and offer ridiculous roles that degrade them. Vanga expected Deepika Padukone to succumb to such low standards set for women by male directors in cinema. Unfortunately for him, Deepika Padukone ended up giving a fair explanation of the issue between them most maturely. What happens now? The fragile male ego pops up and shoots right down his throat. This has become an issue because a woman chose to speak up.
From lead actors to light technicians, no one should be stretched to exhaustion in the name of production. When a star like Deepika Padukone asserts her preference for structured work hours, she is absolutely within her rights to do so. Given her stature, influence, and contribution to the craft, she has earned the power to advocate for basic workplace norms that should, ideally, be available to everyone on set. Her asking for humane working conditions should not be a headline but a standard. When such demands are reframed as controversial or ‘difficult,’ it reflects more on the ecosystem’s dysfunction than on the individual asserting their rights.
We call it the Film industry but it is not an organised sector, it is an unorganised one, so the Indian Maternity Benefit Act 1961 doesn’t cover it. A biological mother can avail of leave for up to six months under the Maternity Benefit Act 1961 and Deepika Padukone’s daughter is 9 months old. With her vanity van, feeding and caring for her baby shouldn’t be cumbersome. When you sign a film contract, you should object to it there and then. But Padukone signed it first and objected later. If this was about a middle or working-class woman, things would have been about the woman. Deepika has a whole team to handle her daughter and home. I feel this controversy is just to seek attention. Sandeep Reddy Vanga has all right to take action against her tantrums.
The entire Indian film industry runs on a broken model – lead actors are massively overpaid, while writers, editors, and others who contribute just as much are underpaid. Yet, no one bats an eye when Rajinikanth charges `250 crore. Bringing it up during a spat only reveals how Vanga and his team seem more bothered when a woman demands the same sum that male leads have always gotten away with. She’s a new mother caring for her 8-month-old baby. In contrast, many male stars come to sets on their own time, refuse multiple takes, and leave early – and no one calls them out. A mother requesting an 8-hour shift is simply asking for the bare minimum. But it’s fair for a passionate filmmaker like Vanga (setting aside his politics) who expects full emotional commitment from actors to be hurt by Deepika’s refusal to dub in Telugu. The team even rescheduled the shoot around her pregnancy. To wait that long, only to hear she won’t dub, can be disappointing.
If a top-billing male actor had made the same demands, people would have applauded him for being ‘family-oriented’, ‘sensitive’ and ‘exceptional’. In an industry that has no structures to support working mothers, what else was Deepika supposed to do than negotiate? It’s a double-edged sword – had she gone back to work the same as pre-child days, she would have been labelled a ‘bad mother’. I read that she was being paid crores lesser than her co-star Prabhas.... doesn’t she have the right to fair pay? Deepika has always been courageous and open, almost defiant to mainstream norms. I am glad to see her continuing to do it in a system that only rewards conformity. And finally, who made Vanga, the director of Animal, the flag bearer of feminism? His statements are as ridiculous as his films.
For a big artiste like Deepika Padukone, demanding a share of the profit is reasonable. But looking from the director’s perspective, her demands of an 8-hour work shift are not professional at all. If one is into work, they should invest their complete commitment and time to it because on set, it’s all about time and the producer’s money which is involved in the production of a film. I feel motherhood is more important right now for her, so taking a break is better, which will make things easy for both parties involved.