Actress Radhika Apte, who is currently juggling both motherhood and her acting career, stated in an interview that she might add special clauses and terms in her contracts, now that she has a baby waiting for her at home. She also said that working in India will become way more difficult for her due to the erratic schedules of the Hindi film industry.
"I've realised that how we work in India is just never going to be a possibility for me. Because in India a normal shift is minimum 12 hours. That doesn't include makeup. So, with hair and makeup it's about 13 hours, plus the travel. And no shoot finishes on time. That's 15 hours plus when it doesn't finish up on time. I've shot mostly for 16 -18 hours in my life. And that's just never a possibility anymore. I can't do it because if I do that, I'll never get to see my daughter," she told Times of India.
Radhika went on to say, "I must have different terms in my contracts now and a lot of people are going to have problems with that. There are so many women on film sets. We talk about gender equality and there are so many women in lots of departments. I want to know how many of them have children. Because it's assumed in our culture that it's okay for men not to see their children. But mothers can't afford to do that. So not a lot of mothers with babies can possibly work in our industry. Unless they have their babies dragged on set."
"I have two projects that I'm about to sign and I'm gonna have to change how the contracts read," she added.
Radhika's statement comes at a time when the internet is divided over Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Spirit controversy. Deepika, who welcomed her baby girl, Dua, in September last year, reportedly demanded an 8-hour work shift for her on the sets of Spirit, among other demands, so that she could spend time with her daughter post work.
However, reports claimed that Vanga did not agree to her demands, including the one about fixed shift timings, which is why she stepped down from the film, and Triptii Dimri was roped in as the actress.
While both Deepika and Vanga have not confirmed if the reports about the former's terms and conditions were true, the controversy blew up as some netizens called the former's conditions "unprofessional", while others questioned the work environment for new mothers on film sets.
