Deepika Padukone’s reported fallout with director Sandeep Reddy Vanga over fixed working hours on Spirit has triggered a larger debate within the film industry regarding the working conditions of actors and crew members. Now, Rashmika Mandanna, who previously worked with Vanga in Animal, has weighed in, reflecting on her own experience with varied work schedules across film industries.Rashmika: ‘In the South, we work like office hours’Speaking to Barkha Dutt for Mojo Story, Rashmika offered insight into the differences in work culture across regional cinemas. Comparing the South Indian industries with Bollywood, she said, “I do work in multiple industries which is for example, in the South – Telugu industry, Kannada industry, or Tamil industry, we work 9 am to 6 pm, like it’s our office hours. After shoot, we spend time with family, we go to sleep and we head to shoot the next day. In Hindi, I’ve realised it’s a 9 am to 9 pm shift. It’s 12 working hours so now as an actor, I am open to both of these working hours because this is what my firm requires.”‘Every film should have that discussion’Amidst growing calls for a standardized 8-hour shift model in Bollywood, Rashmika stressed that such decisions must be made collaboratively and contractually before filming begins. “Today the whole country is debating about flexible hours and everything, but that is for discussion amongst the teams and figure out what works for them. It’s their personal choices, so that’s what I believe in. I feel like every film have to have that discussion and to be open to how many hours in the day they want to work,” she said.
The reality of back-to-back shootsOffering a glimpse into the intense schedules actors sometimes endure, Rashmika recalled instances where shoots extended far beyond conventional hours. “Some films you can start 9 am to 9 pm, but they actually carries on till the next day, 9 pm, so you’re working like 36 hours-48 hours. They are films where we work around the clock, it’s pretty normal.”She added, “So like today when the debate is going on, I know a lot of people have opinions about it, and rightly so. But it’s fair that you went and told your director, ‘Okay, this is the timeframe I want to work in. Can we do this.’ Of course, it’s their personal debate. But, just to throw a little light on these things, there are much worse scenarios happening where you are working 2-3 days without going home, you know without having a little nap.”
