Mumbai: After Deepika Padukone’s exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ‘Spirit’ following an 8-hour shift demand, several actors have opened up on the issue.
Joining the group which feels family time is important is Saif Ali Khan, who believes “success is being able to say no to work to spend time with family.”
Speaking at the Arab Media Summit, Saif shared, “I hate coming home and seeing the kids already asleep. That’s not success. Success is being able to say, ‘No, I need to go home now to catch that half hour with them.’ We get four holidays a year, and when my kids are on break, I don’t work. That time is sacred. I’m at that crazy age where I have to call both my mum and my children. You think it’s just your parents you have to check on — then you realise it’s both.”
He added, “Working is important, yes. But so is cooking pasta together, having a meal, and focusing on the kids. That’s the real glue of life. Success and privilege, for me, is being able to say no to work and yes to time with my family.”
Deepika was replaced by Triptii Dimri and labelled ‘unprofessional’ for refusing to work beyond 8 hours.
At the trailer launch of the Kajol-starrer ‘Maa’, actor-producer Ajay Devgn also defended the 8-hour shift for working mothers.
“It’s not that it’s not going down well with people. Most of the honest filmmakers will not have problems with it. And apart from this, being a mother and working for eight hours, most people have started working eight-nine hours shifts,” he said.
“It’s person to person, and I feel most of the industry understands this,” he added.
On the work front, Saif will next be seen in ‘Race 4’, a biopic directed by Rahul Dholakia.
