Vogue India’s latest short film has reached 3.6 million views on YouTube in just 3 days. The video starring 99 women, titled “My Choice” is narrated by Deepika Padukone and directed by Homi Adajania.
The short film is Vogue India’s venture in promoting “Feminism” following various women-related issues in the Indian society. While the initiative to create awareness and the mode of promoting the idea is much appreciated and welcome, the content seems to be nothing short of ludicrous.
‘My Choice’ fails splendidly, falling into pieces that are complete and utter nonsense and have nothing to overlap ‘Women Empowerment’. It is a sad attempt to endorse feminism and in fact projects a completely preposterous sphere to feminism.
The narration begins with what a woman’s choice is.
My choice: to be a size zero or a size fifteen
Agreed. How a woman views her body is entirely her choice. But, linking weight constraints to trapping the soul is a bit far-fetched.
They don’t have a size for my spirit and never will.
To use cotton and silk to trap my soul is to believe you can halt the expansion of the universe
Or capture sunlight in the palm of your hand
First rule of poetry. Use little over-the-top dramatic vocabulary.
The only fair point in the entire narration is:
Your mind is caged, let it free
This is hard core feministic. It’s the only couple of lines that actually make perfect sense. Narrow-minded people need to loosen up to understand and shape themselves according to the changing dynamics of the society. Of course, it has little to do with the short film and its message towards gender equality, but still, it makes a fair point.
Here comes the ridiculous content:
My choice: to marry, or not to marry
To have sex before marriage, to have sex outside a marriage, to not have sex
It’s a woman’s choice to have relations before a marriage – the world’s women are growing up way too fast and with westernization creeping into (not just) celebrity lives, this point makes an infinitesimally small sense: even if it’s every mother’s worst nightmare. I’m not in agreement, I just think it’s forgivable compared to what comes next.
It’s a woman’s choice to have relations outside a marriage? What rubbish? So, a man’s a pathetic cheater if he has an open relationship, but when a woman does it, it’s her choice. I am a woman and this disgusts me beyond anything. How do the rules of marriage differ for the couple in question? And even if it doesn’t and even if the oh-I’m-so-feminist people of Vogue argue that a man can have the same liberty, that’s not a marriage. That’s not even a relationship. What it is, is antipathy at its best.
My choice: to love temporarily or to last forever
Nonsense. Again. A depracating way to portray a relationship between two individuals. Being in a relationship is to last forever. There is no question of choice, not after a commitment is made. Of course, making the commitment is entirely an individual’s choice.
Remember, you are my choice
I am not your privilege
To the men reading this: this is not feminism. This is a ridiculously pathetic attempt at depicting superiority of women over men; something that I vehemently oppose. In the name of gender equality, Vogue has attempted a take-down on the men; a comical effort.
My choice, to come home when I want
Don’t be upset if I come home at 4 a.m.
Don’t be fooled if I come home at 6 p.m.
The same applies to women who whine, grumble, object and protest when their husbands come home late. Would that be acceptable?
My choice, to have your baby or not
Are you kidding me? Having a baby or not is most definitely NOT the choice of the woman! It’s a couple’s decision. A man will most certainly have a say in it. How stupid can people get? Either we have male chauvinists treating women like child-bearing machines or the “feminists” who choose to have a baby. Stupidity.
My pleasure may be your pain
My songs, your noise
My order, your anarchy
More stupidity. A husband gets drunk and wrecks havoc at home because; it’s HIS choice, it’s HIS order. And what happens there? He is called names, dragged to police station for harassment. But a woman’s order is her choice? And men have to sit by and watch it? Every man, woman and child have a right to speak for themselves, a right to stand up for themselves: a right that has been widely utilized by men, while women (on most occasions) have not been forthcoming.
Your sins, my virtues
I am VERY curious to know what these lines actually refer to. ‘Cos if it refers to what I think it does, that’s the joke of the century.
I am the tree, not the forest
I am the snow flake, not the snow fall
You are the snow flake
Oh, goody. More poetry that makes no sense.
Finally, the narration ends with:
I choose to empathize
Or to be indifferent
I choose to be different
I am the universe, infinite in every direction
This is my choice
A woman is many things. A woman can become many things. A woman can inspire many things. It is true. But it is equally true, that a man is capable of all these things.
The narration speaks from a woman’s view. How about we read the entire narration again from a man’s point-of-view? How would feminists react to that? How empowering would that be? How equal would men and women be?
An empowerment to a man’s choice… how would that be?
When he asks for dowry, it’s his order; your anarchy.
When he is abusive, it’s his pleasure; your pain.
When he asks you to give up your career, it’s his song; your noise.
Interesting choices, aren’t they? When a man makes a wretched choice, it means jail-time and more criticism. Now, a woman makes a wretched choice, we call it “empowerment”?
This dim-wit attempt at popularizing what’s called “Indian Feminsim” needs to stop right now. This is not gender equality. This is not woman empowerment. This is not feminism.
And Deepika Padukone. We feel for you. We were with you during the whole issue with the newspaper daily. At that point, you were our women empowerment symbol. Right now, you tossed it right out the window with a bizarre and incredibly pointless short film.
You need to understand. You are a Bollywood actress whose privacy was violated. You are not India’s Emma Watson. So, don’t try to be one.
Emma Watson. #HeForShe. She’s the boss.
The Critictionary 