Deepika My Choice Video is so Wrong!

I woke up yesterday to the jamming of my timeline with Deepika My Choice Video. Even before seeing it, I knew it has to be something special for it had Deepika in it. Someone who could raise her voice against leading news daily, someone who could openly share about depression- if she is choosing to do a video on women empowerment then it better be worth watching & sharing.

But, I was disappointed. Apart from nice visuals, the video had nothing. Deepika, you made a wrong choice.

The country that you live in, women empowerment is not about choices, it’s about having a choice in the first place. Here’s what you said in your video, and what the truth in India is.

To wear the clothes I like, my choice

Deepika, I request you to visit Delhi in winters and you would see women selling vegetables, working as domestic helps, begging on streets, in torn clothes. In single digit temperatures, it’s not about choice of their clothes; it’s about the lack of choices. Sorry, but they do not have the luxury of choosing from a fancy wardrobe and hence they roam half naked. I wish they had a choice to wear cotton and silk.

To be a size zero or size 15, my choice.

Almost around 70% of our population is rural. In a 2012 study, 60% of rural India lives on less than Rs. 35 a day. How on earth are the women of these families supposed to gain weight? Size zero is a not a choice for them, it is a reality. I wish they had a choice to gain weight.

To have sex before marriage or outside of marriage, my choice.

Deepika, the country that you live in marital rape is still legal. According to a CNN report, the number of women sexually assaulted by their husbands is 40 times the number of women attacked by men they don’t know. Your mind is caged, let it free-my body is not let it be is what you said. For these women, their body is caged in their own house. Sex for them is not a choice, it’s a torture they go through every day. I wish they had a choice to not have sex at all.

To marry or not to marry, my choice.

As per UNICEF report of 2014, India has second highest number of child marriages. To marry or not to marry is not a choice for these under-age girls. It is a brutal reality. Premature pregnancies, motherhood at that age are a fact. I wish they had a choice.

A bindi on my forehead, a ring on my finger, adding your surname is all my choice.

Time Magazine, BBC world and the likes have all covered stories on Indian widows. Do you know they are scared to live a life of a widow or a divorcee because they are treated as untouchables and life for them is of begging and destitution? They are thrown out of their own house by their children. Having a bindi, ring etc. is not an ornament for them-it is a certificate to a life. I wish they had a choice.

To have a baby or not, my choice.

We are one of the most populous countries in the world for a reason. The fertility rate (average number of children born per woman) is 2.7. UP & Bihar being as high as 3.8. Poverty and illiteracy are one of the main reasons for the population growth. I wish these women could be educated to have a choice.

Dear Deepika, I wish you made a choice to really get into women empowerment. A 2 min video, aimed at already educated urban women is not what will address this issue. Use your celebrity status and work with the government. What Vidya Balan is doing by building awareness of basic toilet facilities for women is far more instrumental in ensuring women empowerment than this video.

Deepika, this time you made a wrong choice.