Farah Khan has sparked debate by seemingly criticizing Deepika Padukone’s demand for an 8-hour workday on the sets of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit. Without naming Deepika directly, Farah suggested that enduring long hours is what “makes gold''.
Choreographer-director Farah Khan, of the highly acclaimed Om Shanti Om that introduced Deepika Padukone to the big screen, seems to have triggered this debate among industry insiders about the issue of fixed eight-hour workdays on film sets when she said that she did not approve of such arrangements during filming. These comments come in relation to the recent controversy regarding Deepika's exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga's forthcoming movie Spirit after the actress allegedly asked to cap her shifts at a minimum number of daily hours.
Deepika Padukone And Sandeep Reddy Vanga Controversy:
Deepika apparently left the production of Spirit requesting:
an eight-hour daily shift,
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a profit-sharing clause,
and a big ₹20–25 crore remuneration package.
Her exit from the entire project stirred a bigger pot of discussions related to a work-life balance in Bollywood, especially since she reportedly became a mother in September 2024 and wanted to safeguard her health and family time.
What Farah Khan Said
Recalling that actor Radhikka Madan spoke about early long-haul shoots: "56 hours non-stop or 48 hours non-stop," during a casual interaction in her YouTube vlog, Farah said,
”Aise tapke hi toh sona banta hai” (this is how gold is made),
a phrase implicitly suggesting that brutal schedules create excellence. The comment is an endorsement of the culture of marathon shoots rather than shorter shifts.
By not naming the actress, the remark could easily be presented as criticizing the raging debate about work-hour requirements, given their shared history.
Industry Reactions: Mixed Alignments
Pankaj Tripathi discussed the importance of boundaries and saying "no" in long hours of abusive shooting based on his experience of shooting up to 16-18 hours.
Both Kajol and Ajay Devgn supported the work-life balance; Devgn said that honest filmmakers should not downsize their budgets if that's what an actor wants.
For Saif Ali Khan, success meant spending more time with his children, thus limiting his time in office-a shared boundary with Deepika.
Regional differences in workflows were accepted by Rana Daggubati; he, however, underscored the different set of rules that govern each actor.
Further, director Siddharth P. Malhotra referred to actresses like Rani Mukerji and Kajol, who completed eight-hour shifts years ago, noting that modern actors (both male and female) mostly argue for shorter hours.
