Director Imtiaz Ali said that female actors work harder than anybody else in the Indian film industry, as they are required to put in more effort through challenging situations. Talking about his long-time collaborator Deepika Padukone, Imtiaz said that she gets ready “faster” than all her co-stars, and is top-notch at her job.

Imtiaz first worked with Deepika in Love Aaj Kal, followed by Cocktail, which was seen as a turning point in her career The film was directed by Homi Adajania and penned by Imtiaz, who collaborated with Deepika again on the much-loved 2015 film Tamasha, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor.

“Deepika is a wonderful actor to work with. I feel so comfortable when she is on set. She is the easiest to work with, she gets ready the fastest, much before any co-actor,” Imtiaz said in a video shared by Every Friday Movie. The filmmaker said that even for simple shots, Deepika takes “no time to get going” and called her an “amazing” artiste. Imtiaz said that “nobody in the country” puts in the kind of hard work that women in the film industry do.

“I am talking about the so called ‘heroines’, the glamour girls of the Hindi film industry. They have to get on set many hours before anyone else so that they can start work on their looks, costumes; they shoot in uncomfortable shoots, wear short clothes in cold weather, sometimes get little sleep., They work the hardest in the film industry,” he said, as the audience clapped.

Deepika and Imtiaz haven’t collaborated since Tamasha in 2015, but both have had a resounding success with their recent projects like Pathaan, Jawan, Kalki 2898 AD and for the latter, the acclaimed Netflix film Amar Singh Chamkila. Deepika will be next seen in Singham Again, set to release this Diwali.

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