Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone’s exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga and Prabhas’ Spirit sparked a major controversy in the South film industry. As per reports, the diva was ousted from the project after she demanded an eight-hour shift. For those unversed, DP was a new mom and wanted to also prioritise her motherhood responsibilities. Several other rumours about her alleged demands surfaced online, leaving the internet and the film industry divided. Now, the director’s brother, Pranay Reddy Vanga, has made some fresh claims.

In a recent interview, Pranay Reddy Vanga alleged that filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga removed Deepika Padukone from Spirit after she demanded a 10% share in the film’s profits. He also claimed that the actress “leaked” details about the film.

He told NTV, “The reason is the same as what was written on the websites. One was remuneration, the second was timing. Apart from that, there are some other reasons too.” Pranay further claimed that it was the filmmaker’s decision to remove Deepika from the Prabhas-starrer. He said that Sandeep had been in touch with the Pathaan actress for nearly a year and a half and was keen to bring her on board, but claimed that the circumstances changed after her two films became massive hits.

Deepika’s demands had allegedly increased.

He said, “She demanded 10 percent of the net income. That is, she asked for ten percent of the profits. Everything went overboard. See, she can ask for anything. If we are willing to give, we can give. But the economics (budget) should also work out for us. We thought that it was not working. This is why we thought of other options. Once we started looking for other options, she started leaking everything with her PR team.”

He further claimed that the team had spent over a year discussing the story and Padukone’s character with her. He expressed disappointment over details discussed internally allegedly being revealed and said, “We discussed the story and character with her. Things discussed internally should not be revealed but she leaked all of them. That is why we are disturbed.” He stated that the issue was never about paying the actress an additional Rs 5–6 crore.

Last year, Deepika finally broke her silence on the controversy, questioning why actresses could not demand eight-hour shifts when male superstars in the Indian film industry could do the same and work only on weekdays.

Meanwhile, she has been replaced by Triptii Dimri in Spirit. The film is set to release in theatres in March next year.