- Tillotama Shome highlighted that work-hour issues affect both men and women in the film industry
- She noted 12-hour shifts are a minimum for newcomers, while senior actors often work fewer hours
- Deepika Padukone's eight-hour work shift demand sparked recent debate on work conditions
Tillotama Shome, who made a mark with her back-to-back stellar performances on OTT platforms, weighs in on the eight-hour shift debate in an exclusive conversation with NDTV.
Advocating work-life balance while also prioritising work, Tillotama believes the conversation should address real problems at work instead of becoming a headline. Underscoring the collaborative nature of film production, Shome called for a 'nuanced conversation' about working hours across sectors in India.
"I think what we don't know is that it's not just about women; there are many men. There are many women, and depending on how popular or big they are, there are many actors who work far fewer than 12 hours.
"Twelve hours is the minimum shift expected of us when you start out in the industry, and I have seen many senior colleagues work far fewer hours. It's in their contract. No one has talked about that. So let's first get the facts.
"You can use your position. Using your star power, you can decide how many hours you want to work. This has been going on for a very long time. So I really don't understand why suddenly this became a topic of conversation when Deepika (Padukone) asked," Tillotama tells us.
For context, Deepika Padukone reportedly exited Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Spirit and Nag Ashwin's sequel to his blockbuster film Kalki 2898 AD over work-hour disputes.
Later, Deepika broke her silence and said, "By virtue of being a woman, if that's coming across as pushy or whatever, then so be it. But it is no secret that a lot of superstars, male superstars, in the Indian film industry have been working for eight hours for years and it's never made headlines!"
It's no longer a secret that demanding reasonable work hours comes with years of hard work and privilege.
"There are many production houses that will try to make you work for more than 12 hours, and those are inhumane conditions to work in. When you are a little more established and a little more experienced, you can say no. But when you're a younger actor, they take advantage of you. There has to be a certain dignity of labour, and as your power and experience increase in the industry, you can protect yourself from these sweatshop vibes of working for more than 12 hours. Because when an actor works for more than 12 hours, the crew works even longer. After an actor goes home, they have to do at least two more hours of work," says Shome.
"In Hollywood, you can't use an infant for more than two hours. You need twins or triplets to have the child on set. It's a matter of safety, health and humanity. So if there is an older actor or the child, you send them off first. If someone is going through a health crisis, and if an actor wants to work fewer hours because they've just become a parent or have someone who's unwell, then it's a conversation between them and their producer with a spirit of finding a solution. It's not a news headline that makes a blanket statement," she says.
Shome said she worked with considerate directors while her mother was undergoing treatment for cancer. "The directors I worked with were very sensitive about my timings, even though contractually I was obligated to work a certain number of hours. Because they were sensitive, I made sure I worked over and beyond," she says.
"But I do feel that the work culture in India — not just in the film industry but beyond it — needs to really examine what kind of culture allows a person to take care of their health and have some work-life balance," concludes Shome.
In recent times, Tillotama Shome was seen in OTT projects like Paatal Lok, Kota Factory: Season 3, and Saare Jahan Se Accha. She shared screen space with Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna in the Netflix film Ikka.
