The ongoing debate around 8-hour shifts in Bollywood — sparked by Deepika Padukone’s comments on work-life balance — continues to divide the industry. Now, actor Chitrangda Singh has shared her perspective, calling the idea “very difficult” to implement in a creative field like cinema.
‘It’s a creative field, you can’t bind it to time’
Speaking to NDTV, Chitrangda, who is currently gearing up for her upcoming film Maatrubhumi alongside Salman Khan, explained why fixed working hours are hard to enforce on film sets.“Bollywood mushkil hai, bahut mushkil hai, because again, like you said, it’s a creative field. If the shot isn’t ready, the light hasn’t come, it’s raining, something goes wrong on the set, some malfunction with the camera — anything can happen,” she said.
‘There’s also a business aspect’
She added that filmmaking isn’t just creative — it’s also driven by business realities.“There’s also a business aspect to everything. So I feel as long as the producer is okay… Deepika is Deepika, she’s a superstar, maybe she can say she’ll work for eight hours — and why not?” she noted.
‘You can’t put a hard stop’
Chitrangda emphasised that limiting shifts strictly to eight hours isn’t always practical — for anyone.“I’m not just saying this for women. Even for a male actor, it’s very difficult. You can’t put a hard stop like that,” she said.
‘Technicians need regulation more’
Highlighting a crucial gap, she pointed out that crew members often bear the brunt of long working hours.“In fact, I feel the lightmen and other technicians need it more. They are the first ones to come on set and the last ones to leave. Their hours are extremely long,” she said.She concluded by calling for a more structured approach across departments. “Actors should probably come together and ask for better timings, honestly, because there is no real structure in place for departments like art and lighting.”
