Deepika Padukone has been attached to the media industry for nearly two decades. Catching her big break alongside the ‘king’ of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, in 2007, she delivered an unforgettable ‘Shantipriya’ to fans. A timeless classic, Padukone sent a benchmark for all actresses that followed her. A mother of a baby girl, Deepika Padukone, has been a vocal advocate of mental health throughout the years.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar India, the ‘King’ star opened up about her newfound tag of being a mother. “We’ve normalised overworking,” she remarked when asked about how motherhood changed her. However, these are not new comments as Padukone continued to reiterate her stand on an eight-hour workday.
‘Eight hours of work is enough’
This comes after numerous instances where the Bollywood megastar has no stopped tolerating overworking. In fact, following a public fallout with director Sandeep Reddy Vanga, she was left out of two major projects, Spirit and the Kalki sequel. Many reports and social media sleuths speculated that it stemmed from the 8-hour workday debate.
Being a new mother, she related to the cliche ‘You’ll understand when you become one,’ now more than ever. She shared, “I feel strongly about how new mothers need to be supported when they return to work.” Given the patriarchal bent of workplaces across sectors, Deepika Padukone expressed her opinion as a female, both in position and power. “We’ve normalised overworking. We mistake burnout for commitment. Eight hours of work a day is enough for the human body and mind,” Padukone added.
Bollywood’s Lady Singham further said, “Only when you’re healthy can you give your best. Bringing a burnt-out person back into the system helps no one.” She then shared how she has a strict rule about working for eight hours, from Monday to Friday. “We have maternity and paternity policies. We should normalise bringing children to work,” Padukone opined.
Earlier, Padukone had revealed that several male stars have strict work hours and nobody calls them out for having boundaries. Sparking a debate online, she gathered huge support from Bollywood. Several stars, including Konkana Sen Sharma, Ishan Khatter, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Farah Khan, and others, supported her cause.