‘Male Mira Kapoor': Housefull 5 director draws flak for comparing babies to dogs in Deepika Padukone-Vanga row

Hindustan Times

10 hours ago

Ever since news broke that Deepika Padukone turned down Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Prabhas-starrer Spirit, there has been a lot of conversation around the film industry being conducive to new working mothers, pay parity and more. Housefull 5 director Tarun Mansukhani thought he was speaking in support of Deepika's desire for an 8-hour work day when he said he'd also like to get home at a reasonable time to look after his dog. But the internet is miffed at him for comparing looking after a dog to a baby. (Also Read: Was Deepika Padukone ousted for demanding 10% profit share, ₹25 cr for Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Spirit? New claims emerge)
Last month, a Pinkvilla report claimed that Deepika turned down Spirit over disagreements about pay scale, Telugu dialogues, and bold scenes. But the one that caught everyone's attention was that the actor wanted to work a strict 8-hour schedule, because she had daughter Dua, who is less than a year old, to look after. While initially there were reports of her 'unprofessionalism', the Hindi film industry soon rallied in support of her with Ajay Devgn and Mani Ratnam supporting her desire for reasonable work hours.
When Housefull 5 director Tarun was asked about it in an interview with India Today, he was supportive of Deepika and said that there were always ways to work around tight working hours. He also stated that whatever demands the actor has need to be mentioned in a contract beforehand, instead of being brought up last minute. He also said, 'I want to go home and spend time with my dog. So I get the vibe and totally get the feeling. But just put it in the contract from the beginning, then everyone's prepared,' drawing flak for it.
The internet was not happy about Tarun comparing looking after a dog to a baby. One Redditor seemed stunned with the comparison, commenting, 'Is he comparing spending time with his dog with Deepika's newborn baby?' Another wrote, 'Male Mira Kapoor. Babies are puppies.' One person pointed out, 'Men: oh taking care of a kid is just like a pet be away from them even if you're missing them, don't worry about breastfeeding or any of your own maternal instincts. Also men: women should be at home and take care of their kids and clean the house what's wrong with these career-oriented women.'
A miffed Redditor even called Tarun a 'manchild' writing, 'He's trying to become another manchild.. answer is very kidish.' Another thought the director's statement wasn't supportive at all and was instead a dig at Deepika, 'This guy comparing dogs with babies clearly doesn't understand the difference between want and need … anyway..it's obviously a dig at her.' A Redditor even wondered when new mothers will be shown grace, writing, 'She's a god damn mother, can we please cancel these unaware idiotic statement passing directors who wont show any grace towards a woman to recover post birth? JEEZ. THIS IS 21ST CENTURY FFS.'
On Saturday, it was announced that Deepika will soon star in Atlee's film with Allu Arjun. The makers shared an announcement video that saw her pulling off stunts in a controlled environment.