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Radhika Apte on the work hour debate as a new mother: Won't work unless producers agree to all-inclusive 12 hour shifts
Amid the growing work-hour debate in the Indian film industry, Radhika Apte, who became a mom in December 2024, gives her opinion on the matter
The work hour debate for female actors, especially new mothers has been doing the rounds for the last few months. It all started ever since actor Deepika Padukone was reportedly ousted from filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit for demanding fixed working hours as a working mother.
Actor Radhika Apte, who was recently seen in Saali Mohabbat and is a new mum herself having celebrated the first birthday of her daughter recently, agrees with the demands and feels happy that the conversation has finally started. Giving her full support to the matter, she says, "I will not be able to work unless the producers now agree to 12 hour shifts, and by 12 hours, I mean, including travel, makeup and hair. Otherwise we are basically working for 16 hours as you're on set for a minimum of 14 hours, including your hair makeup and just a little bit of extended shift. Then you have at least an hour-and-a-half of travel, wherever you're working from.”
Insisting on the need of fixed hours, she asserts, “You can't be away for 16 hours, otherwise you will never get to see your child. You don't have weekly offs. Sometimes you don't have lunch breaks. So, it's not possible to work that way for me. I will not be able to work on most of the projects because a lot of people won't agree with this. It would really depend on who agrees with that. Also, my time to work now is my time away from my child. So I need to really like it enough to do it."
Radhika Apte was away from her daughter for the first time in a year when she recently came down to Mumbai for the promotions of Saali Mohabbat. She admits it was quite a different experience. “I've never been away from her. So, it was quite hard but she and her father have an incredible relationship, and me and my partner share everything. We don't have any nanny or anybody else, so she's very attached to both of us. She was fine, actually. I felt worried about her but it was great to be free and had this mini time off. I slept without being woken up. I loved my freedom,” she quips.
Interestingly, while Radhika agrees that work offers get reduced for female actors after they become a mother, it hasn’t been the case with her. She has had two releases since giving birth herself, Sister Midnight and Saali Mohabbat. “A lot of work came to me this year, but I'm not taking any work till April. At the moment, I've said no to everything that has come as I'm going to take on work only after April. There's a potential film that I might do, but other than that, I’ve not signed anything,” she signs off.
