Sources reveal a combination of demands for an increased fee, limited working hours, and entourage costs led to the star’s departure from the highly anticipated film.
September 19, 2025: Actress Deepika Padukone will not be back for the sequel to the sci-fi hit Kalki 2898 AD. This is a huge shock to the film industry. Vyjayanthi Movies, the production company, made the official statement on Thursday. They said they “couldn’t find a partnership” with the actress for the next movie.
The studio’s short but sharp post on social media said, “a film like Kalki 2898 AD deserves that commitment and much more,” which suggested that the two sides couldn’t agree on how to work together.
Padukone has apparently left two high-profile projects in the last several months, the first being Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film Spirit. Sources say that both events are connected to the actress’s requests for a better work-life balance after she had a baby. Padukone is said to have asked for an eight-hour workday for Kalki 2, which the production company found hard to fit into the timetable for a VFX-heavy, multi-crore picture.
Sources also say that money issues, such as a proposed fee increase and requests for a bigger entourage, were also a source of conflict. Some people think that the studio’s choice to announce the split on social media was a way to prevent a media battle like the one that happened during the Spirit incident.
Even though Padukone had a big part as Sum-80 in the first movie, the producers have said that her character will stay the same and a fresh actress will play the part in the sequel. Director Nag Ashwin had said before that several scenes for the second half have already been filmed, including ones featuring Padukone. This raised issues about how the tale will move ahead.