‘Respect the culture’: Venky Atluri on Deepika Padukone’s fixed working hours debate | Bollywood News
3 min readHyderabadJul 31, 2026 10:17 AM IST When Deepika Padukone exited Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit and parted ways with Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD sequel over working hours, it ignited a debate about fixed working hours, leading many to weigh in on the pros and cons of the same across various film industries. In a recent interview, director Venky Atluri was asked about the difference in working conditions between Telugu and Hindi cinema, especially with regard to Deepika’s exit over working hours. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, Atluri said that if he were to work in Hindi he would take a three-month break to study the set first, and that anyone coming to Telugu should work to a Telugu way of doing things. He added that shoots there routinely run 11 to 12 hours, and that actors from Tamil, Malayalam or Hindi cinema should be willing to accept those conditions. He said, “When a person from any industry, let it be Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, when you’re coming and acting in a Telugu film, …








