Deepika Padukone slams L&T chairman SN Subrahmanyan for his 90-hour per week work remarks

Deepika Padukone called out the the chairman of Larsen & Toubro, SN Subrahmanyan, for his comment on making employees work on Sunday.

Deepika Padukone is a strong advocate for mental health. Recently, she criticised the idea of work culture as presented by SN Subrahmanyan, the chairman of business conglomerate Larsen & Toubro. A viral video of Subrahmanyam went viral where is seen remarking how he wish he could make his employees work on Sunday too. To this, the ‘Singham Again’ actress called it out on social media

What Did SN Subrahmanyam Say?

In a viral video circulating on Reddit, the chairman  said,“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy because I work on Sundays.” He goes on to add, “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you look at your wife? Come on, get to the office and start working.” This riled up several people and it soon became a pint of discussion all over the internet.

Deepika Padukone Slams Business Tycoon

Deepika Padukone re-shared journalist Faye D’Souza’s post about the same and wrote, “Shocking to see people in such senior positions make such statements. #MentalHealthMatters”.

D’Souza then shared a statement issued by Larsen & Toubro, which read: “At L&T, nation-building is at the core of our mandate. For over eight decades, we have been shaping India’s infrastructure, industries, and technological capabilities. We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realize our shared vision of becoming a developed nation.”

“The Chairman’s remarks reflect this larger ambition, emphasizing that extraordinary outcomes require extraordinary effort. At L&T, we remain committed to fostering a culture where passion, purpose, and performance drive us forward.” Deepika re shared the post and captioned it: “And they just made it worse…”

Deepika Padukone has been open about her struggles with mental health and how she battled with depression. She also has her own organisation named ‘Live Love Laugh’. In this era where people are more focused about workplace mental health and balancing work and personal life, the business personality’s comment received major backlash.

After Deepika Padukone, Harsh Goenka too called it out by tweeting, “90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday to ‘Sun-duty’ and make ‘day off’ a mythical concept! Working hard and smart is what I believe in, but turning life into a perpetual office shift? That’s a recipe for burnout, not success. Work-life balance isn’t optional, it’s essential. Well, that’s my view! #WorkSmartNotSlave.”

This is not the first instance of a businessman making such vague statements, and having unrealistic demands from India’s workforce. Earlier, Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy had sparked a controversy when he asked the young Indians to work for 70 hours in a week to put the nation on the path of progress.

On the work front Deepika Padukone was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s ‘Singham Again’. Prior to ‘Singham Again’, the actress went pan-India, and was seen along with the titans of Indian cinema like Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhas, Kamal Haasan and Saswata Chatterjee in ‘Kalki 2898 AD’.