Jimmy Shergill joins Deepika Padukone’s Bollywood work-hour debate, but shifts focus to technicians and crew members

The conversation around fixed working hours in the film industry has picked up steam over the last year, largely driven by Deepika Padukone's push for an eight-hour shift. Now, actor Jimmy Shergill has added a different dimension to the debate — shifting the spotlight from actors to the technicians and crew members who work behind the camera.

In a recent interview, Jimmy said it's the on-ground workers, not the stars, whose working conditions worry him the most.

Jimmy Shergill says the work-hour debate must include technicians

Jimmy broke down just how long a technician's day can stretch. While actors typically clock 12 to 15 hours from call time to pack-up, he explained, crew members often end up on set far longer once prep and wrap-up hours are added in — followed by a commute home and back that eats into whatever rest time remains. As Jimmy put it, "My fight is for the workers."

He pointed out that a crew member logging such hours day after day, with barely any time to see his family before returning to set, isn't sustainable — and that someone needs to take responsibility for protecting workers' health, which he called their most important asset.

Jimmy argued that the global standard for a workday is 12 hours, and that beyond that, workers are entitled to time that's genuinely their own. He was quick to acknowledge the imbalance in the industry: actors, he said, have the relative luxury of finishing a shoot in a matter of weeks and heading home to rest, while crew members move from one production to the next without that same buffer.

Jimmy's comments come a year after Deepika Padukone's demand for an eight-hour workday put the spotlight on shift lengths in Hindi cinema. The actor reportedly walked away from projects including Spirit and Kalki 2898 AD after her request for shorter hours wasn't accommodated, sparking an industry-wide conversation that has continued to simmer since.

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