Actor Kunal Khemu’s recent comment on Deepika Padukone’s alleged demand for eight-hour work shifts has sparked a new debate online. During a conversation with his wife, actor Soha Ali Khan, Khemu suggested that a woman needs to be the “boss” to decide how many hours she wants to devote to her work. She also said that women should “plan” their pregnancies better.

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Kemmu was speaking on Soha’s podcast when he suggested that one cannot expect to work less hours if paid more. According to him, one can take such decisions only when he has invested his money in the project. His comments immediately attracted widespread attention online, with a section of the audience criticizing the actor for what they called “misogynistic” views.

Many social media users argued that Kemmu is ignorant of how a woman’s body works even when she is not pregnant, not trying to conceive, or preparing for pregnancy in the long term. As clips of his statement circulated widely online, the actor was also criticized for what many described as a short-sighted view of the way women maintain work-life balance.

What did Kunal Khemu actually say?

“You become the producer, you put in your money, then you are the owner. Then you decide if you want to work only for two hours, and then you will know whether you want to finish a film on time or the project will cost so much and ‘I will lose money,'” Kemmu told Soha during a chat. Give me a job but now I will tell you how you pay me and when I will come to work.

Soha intervened and said that when women are at the peak of their careers and decide to become mothers, it is often difficult for them to make such choices.

However, Kemmu didn’t seem to completely agree and said, “You still have a choice. There’s a nine-month incubation period. You can plan it. You’ve decided to be a mother, you’ve planned it. Unless you’re an accidental mother, that’s a different story. You have to plan it right, your planning can’t affect the way the world works. This applies to men too, it’s a mindset thing, it’s a It’s not a matter of men and women.”

According to her, planning a pregnancy cannot coincide with planning a big career move.

Reactions on social media on Kunal Khemu’s statement

Social media soon started receiving reactions criticizing Kemmu, who is himself the father of an eight-year-old daughter. One comment on the Reddit post read, “9 month incubation period, plan it?!! What is he talking about? A group project?!!! This guy is a parent and a husband.”

Another user wrote, “This is the type of manager who adds a pregnant employee to the layoff list.”

Another comment mentioned several actors in the industry and said, “Oh, this is such a patriarchal and deeply sexist thought process. Male actors always have in and out time, Ajay never shoots on a Sunday, Akshay only allots 8 hours to all his producers, Govinda used to come 8 hours late to the sets, but it’s all acceptable because they are men. Unfortunately, this is where you can see that Kunal is not very educated or Not progressive and Soha married a younger man.”

“This kind of producer’s opinion and this guy is a father? Ask any new parent, you can’t plan anything for the first few years of a child’s life. How is a woman supposed to plan a film months in advance? She just said she can give 8 hours a day, which is a completely reasonable demand. It’s not that she was forcing the production to bend to her terms, she just laid down her terms and when things didn’t work out, she left.” wrote.

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What exactly did Deepika ask?

While Deepika Padukone never publicly said that she was Demand for eight hour work shift From the producers, reports revealed that they were removed Soul And Kalki 2 Due to the same request. The actor reportedly encouraged a fixed eight-hour shoot schedule per day as a new mother so that she could spend time with her child.

While Sandeep Reddy Vanga announces Trupti Dimri as the new female lead of his project Rather in a “cat filled” notecreator of Kalki 2 He simply said that Deepika is no longer associated with this film. Citing commitment issues.

Last year in November, Deepika had talked about the idea of ​​an eight-hour workday In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar India. He stressed that such a schedule should ideally be the norm in the industry, arguing that a balanced workday would benefit everyone involved in film production.

According to the 40-year-old actor, a more structured schedule can help reduce the stress and exhaustion that often accompanies long and unpredictable shooting days.

She said, “We have normalized overwork. We mistake burnout for commitment. Eight hours of work a day is enough for the human body and mind. Only when you are healthy can you give your best. Putting a burnt-out person back into the system doesn’t help anyone. In my own office, we work eight hours a day, Monday through Friday. We have maternity and paternity policies. We should normalize bringing kids to work.”