By Akhil Kumar:
‘To have sex before marriage, to have sex outside of marriage, to not have sex. My choice. To love temporarily, or last forever. My choice. To love a man, or a woman, or both,’ these words by Deepika Padukone in this powerful piece for #VogueEmpower is what sets it apart from the many narratives on women’s freedom that we regularly come across. It talks about a woman’s autonomy, her right to her choices – sexual or otherwise. It boldly asserts a woman’s agency, and does so not in a tone that ‘requests’ the oppressor to acknowledge it, but emphatically affirms/declares that a woman’s choices are her own and she will live by it.
After making headlines for openly talking about her struggle with depression, Deepika Padukone is back again to add to some much needed conversation in the public domain. This video, titled ‘My Choice’, is a collaboration between Deepika Padukone and Homi Adajania for Vogue’s initiative on women’s empowerment, #VogueEmpower. The YouTube description of the video says ‘the film brings together 99 women in the city (Mumbai) from most walks of life voicing their choice for equality, be it social, political, economic, sexual’.
To know more about what I think of this video, follow me on Twitter at @Akhil1490