Ishita Dutta, currently on screen in Drishyam 3, has joined the conversation around Deepika Padukone’s eight-hour shift demand. Her position is simple: asking for a shorter, more predictable workday is not a star tantrum, and productions should stop treating it like one.
The eight-hour shift debate returns
The debate began in 2025, when Deepika Padukone’s exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit and Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD sequel was linked, in part, to her call for eight-hour working shifts. Several actors supported her at the time. Now Ishita Dutta has added her voice, in an interview with Free Press Journal.
Dutta does not see the request as unreasonable. She argues that a production can decline an actor’s scheduling request, but that making a big issue of it, or belittling the person who asks, is where the problem lies.
Motherhood changes the math
Dutta, a mother of two, brings a specific perspective. She said in the interview, ‘You need to have a baby to realise how much of it goes.’ She also noted that many male actors are neither mothers nor willing to work 12–15 hours a day.
Her larger point is that the industry has room for different working styles. Some actors may agree to long schedules; others may negotiate shorter days. Both can be professional.
Who has backed the call
Deepika Padukone has already addressed the scrutiny, saying male superstars have worked eight-hour shifts for years without the same level of questioning. Actors including:
- Sonakshi Sinha
- Kareena Kapoor
- Ananya Panday
- Saba Azad
have also backed the demand.
Why Drishyam 3 matters here
Dutta’s comments land while Drishyam 3, directed by Abhishek Pathak and starring Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Tabu and Jaideep Ahlawat, is performing strongly. The crime thriller opened at ₹62 crore net in India and had collected ₹328 crore domestically after 13 days, crossing ₹500 crore worldwide.
That box office context gives the scheduling conversation extra weight: the actor at the centre of a hit franchise is framing eight-hour shifts as a basic workplace request, not a negotiation tactic.
What this means for set culture
For celebrity watchers, the story behind the pictures is a shift in how Bollywood talks about working hours. The question is no longer whether an actor is difficult, but whether long, unstructured shoot days are the only way to make a film.
Productions may still say no to a shorter day. The difference is how they say it.
Source: Hindustan Times
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