Chitrangda Singh on the 8-hour shift debate for working mother actors: Personal and professional space don't…

THe reported feud betwixt worker Deepika Padukone and filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga o'er the shoot spirit up’s casting raised a debate, including the issue of eight-hour work shifts for female actors who are mothers. Chitrangda Singh, who has donned both the actor and producer’s hat and is a mother too, offers her take on the matter.Ask her if she feels women still ruffle the feathers of the bigwigs in today’s time when they make their own demands, and the actor recently seen in Housefull 5 says, “For somebody like Deepika who is so senior, who has the stardom to make her demands and the privilege to decide whether she wants to be part of a project, depending on whether they accept what she wants, I think it's a great place to be. And it's great that she could come forward and put these demands out for herself.”However, Chitrangda Singh also looks at the issue from the producer’s perspective. “From a director or producer’s point of view, you also have to take care of the business of cinema. I understand that they have certain plans and there's a sort of schedule as well. So, you're also running against the few markers you have when it comes to money or time,” she says.The actor adds, “But I do think that they both have a right to make a choice. I do not want to call out anybody at all, because at one side, somebody is talking of professional commitments, while on the other side, someone is talking of personal commitments, and the personal and professional space don't always overlap that well. So, it’s very difficult for that kind of balance to be found in a workplace, especially in an industry, where ‘work work work’ is everything, even at times money. This is the nature of our industry, and I don't think we can change that overnight.”But when she was a new mother, did she get support from the industry to maintain the balance between her personal and professional life? “I did not expect that to be honest. If I am talking of equality and I want to be treated like a man, then I also want to take equal responsibility. When you are there as a professional, you have to show up as a professional in that capacity. At that point, I don't think I would be okay making an excuse,” she responds, however adding that the people she has worked with, have been considerate: “I have seen a lot of times on set, people have been considerate and managed without saying a word. I have seen makers go out of their way for people when they had family emergencies. So, it's not fair to villainise either of the parties.”