'Shocking to see people...': Deepika Padukone slams L&T chairman for appealing to employees to work on Sundays

During an interaction with employees, Subrahmanyan was addressing why employees of multi-billion-dollar conglomerates have to work even on Saturdays.

In a video which went viral on social media, the chairman was heard saying, "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 continued, "What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife, how long can the wife stare at the husband? Come on, get to the office and start working."

Calling out Subrahmanyan, Deepika wrote in an Instagram story, "Shocking to see people in such senior positions make such statements. #mentalhealthmatters."

Deepika, a massively popular actress in the country, years ago had opened up on how she had battled her own mental health issues.

She also founded an organisation - named Live Love Laugh - to help people deal with stress, anxiety and depression.

Subrahmanyan's viral comments have sparked debates online where people started debating over the need to maintain work-life balance and a healthy workspace culture.

"Its only because of poor labor law in India, L&T Chairman has the guts to say he regret not able to work employees on Sunday. Such a shame. He clearly doesn't have any personal life. And want others to not have either," posted Sahil Bhadviya on X.

Not just online users, but Subrahmayan has received brickbats from his own fraternity.

RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka hit out at Subrahmanyan saying, "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!"

One X user with name Ganesh wrote, "L&T Chief wants his employee to work on Sundays so that he/she can stare at others wife/GF than own wife in home. These so called Chiefs take salary in 8 digit pay 5 digits to employees and expect them to work 90 hours so that the chief can add an extra zero in his pay grade."

Journalist Nidhi Razdan said, "His comments are problematic not only because he wants to enforce slavery but also because they reflect a deeper misogyny. Does L & T not employ women? The comments also reflect disrespect for a wife or partner. Shameful."

Quite similar to what Subrahmanyan said, Infosys co-founder and former CEO, Narayan Murthy had created a debate after proposing a 70-hour work per week for the economic growth of the country.

Murthy had underlined that he used to work for 85-90 hours every week till 1994.

The Infosys co-founder said he doesn't believe in work-life balance claiming "hard work" is more important than "work-life balance".