External links
- My choice acting Deepika Padukone Directed by Homi Adajania (Youtube)
- [1]
- ↑ "The 'one choice' Indian women want". BBC News. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
| My Choice | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Homi Adajania |
| Written by | Kersi Khambatta |
| Produced by | Dinesh Vijan and JSW Sangita Jindal |
| Starring | Deepika Padukone |
| Cinematography | Tassaduq Hussain, Stills by Rohan Shreshtha and Kaushal Parikh |
| Edited by | Yusuf khan |
| Music by | Mathias Duplessy [1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 2 minutes 35 sec |
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
My Choice is a 2015 Indian short film commissioned by Vogue's empowerment initiative. It was directed by Homi Adajania, featuring Deepika Padukone in a notable role along with other 98 women. [2] The film contested the status quo of normative gender roles laid by patriarchy. [3]
The film has 99 career women, including director Adhuna Akhtar, Bollywood critic Anupama Chopra, model/lawyer Scherezade Shroff, and actor Nimrat Kaur, depicting the expression of their rights to free choices through the short film.
The short film, though lacking in traditional dialogue or plot, builds a powerful narrative through striking visuals and music. [4] Padukone stresses on women's right of freedom of choice in lyrical form. [5] [6] [7] The lyric begins such:
My body, my mind, my choice;
To wear the clothes I like; even if my spirit roams naked; My choice;
to be a size 0 or a size 15; They don't have a size for my spirit, and never will
— Kersi Khambatta, My choice (2015 film) referred by Anu Singh Choudhary in Deutsche Welle article. [5]
The women presenting the lyric expect people not to pass judgment on women's choices relating to clothes, profession, sexual orientation and also the way in which they prefer to live their own life. [8] [9] The film hopes to foster a mindset that women would have the right to take decisions about what they do with their bodies, how they work out sexual relationships, whom they love, as well as all other life choices such as whether to have children or not. [10]
In an Indian context, the lyricist says:
.. The bindi on my forehead, the ring on my finger adding your surname to mine, they are ornaments. They can be replaced. My love for you cannot. So treasure that...
— Kersi Khambatta, My choice (2015 film); Referred by source: India Today
Jyoti Sharma Bawa of Hindustan Times objects to the mention of bindi in the lyrics as the same as an ornament, and argues it has much deeper significance in an Indian cultural context. [11]
Notwithstanding its absence of story and dialogue, the film builds a powerful narrative through striking imagery and a sonic atmosphere. The film is produced by Dinesh Vijan's banner, sponsored by Sangita Jindal- JSW Group. [12] Lyrics written by Kersi Khambatta, directed by Homi Adajania and the actress Deepika Padukone bookends the film and also gives the voice over too. [12] The film features music by French composer Mathias Duplessy, using percussion instruments for acoustics along with Tuvan throat singing technique. [13]
The short film portrays 99 women in black-and-white moving portraits of women from all walks of life, like singers, writers, vegetable vendors and flower sellers, including prominent women like Adhuna Akhtar, Anaita Shroff Adajania, Zoya Akhtar, Anupama Chopra. [12] The 2-minutes and 35-seconds film opens with slow lingering camera movements, spacing somber shots of an apparently 99 diverse women one by one, initially depicting various moods as restrained and vulnerable. [4]
In the beginning self-expression of the women is controlled, a woman wearing wrist watch is holding her knees tightly to her chest, another woman moves holding a cloth up, to conceal her body as voice over says 'even if my spirit roams naked'. As the music tempo picks up, the women begin whirling, smiling, looking shyly into the camera. Sensual desire is hinted by a woman by licking her lips, bindis and rings represent the tradition.
At the film's emotional peak, the women get enraged, exhibit anger and defiance, culminating in bold, assertive movements. Deepika clasps her head in her hands, others blow their hands towards the camera. A woman in black makes fluid and bold dance moves, in a musical swell. Stop. As the music intensifies, their expressions and movements shift—becoming more confident, sensual, and expressive. As the music builds to a pinnacle, Deepika says : "My pleasure may be your pain, my songs, your noise." Visual symbols like bindis and gestures suggest themes of tradition, desire, and agency.
The music returns to its original lively pace and yet again the women are smiling, gentle, pacified. The tone later softens as the music returns to a lighter rhythm, and the women appear calm and content. The final shot shows Deepika staring directly into the camera, her hair flowing in the wind in an effortless graceful manner . The film concludes with Deepika Padukone declaring her autonomy, embodying empowerment and self-assertion announcing "I am the universe. Infinite in every direction. This is my choice."
The short film My choice gathered twelve million views on YouTube as of 2024. [14] Anu Singh Choudhary in her Deutsche Welle article says that the short film has generated an online debate with contradicting opinions. One group very excited in welcoming the message in the film, where as another group questioning the intentions and essence behind the message. [15]
Reporter Gunjeet Sra in Quartz criticised, saying film industry which is based on fetishising, objectifying and reinforcing sexist standards of beauty on women", is promoting feminism, is kind of hypocrisy. [16] Gunjeet Sra 's criticism is seconded by Meagan Tyler, a Research fellow, RMIT University, in the Conversations says documentary seem to reduce women's empowerment to a series of choices with lesser emphasis on liberation. [17] In The Washington Post Soraya Nadia McDonald also takes note of Sra's criticism "..They talk about the prerogative of choice, but they don't explain the burden of those choices. ..". [18] Pallavi Aiyar in her book, "Babies & Bylines: Parenting On the Move", published a year later explains with anecdotal examples, that for most persons available range of choices may be too limited, challenged by complex layers of circumstances, at times having weight of facing difficult consequences. [19] After quoting following lines of the lyrics
"To have sex before marriage, to have sex outside of marriage ... My choice." ... ... "My choice: to have your baby or not."
— Kersi Khambatta, My choice (2015 film); Referred by source Scroll.in
Quoting above lines, Aiyar says feminism is a political stance, which should not be reduced to just a lifestyle choice. If choice becomes the criterion by which to determine gender justice, need of deep structural change may become a casualty. According to her, only focusing on choice responds to available options rather than stressing the need to widen those options. [19] Aiyar does not agree with the idea that choosing to have a baby would not involve a partner and that whether lifestyle of sex outside marriage can be unquestioned. [20]
Jyoti Sharma Bawa in Hindustan Times critiqued saying that the short film signals onset of a culture in India, similar to the one explained by author Ariel Levy in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs, where women are objectified and encouraged to objectify each other. [21] The Huffington Post UK article, "Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone champions Women's rights, gets (ironically) attacked on social media," states that Deepika Padukone was even slut-shamed for appearing in the video. The HuffPost article, while referencing Soumonty Kanungo's question in DNA India —'Is the film only talking just about the choices of educated urban women, leaving others?'—also highlights Kanungo's positive view, calling the video a "commendable effort to portray equality." [10]
In The Washington Post Soraya Nadia McDonald while appreciating "My Choice" as a call to recognize and respect women's agency. [22] McDonald says though Padukone's celebrity status helps certainly in attracting attention but the empowerment claims she's pronouncing affect women all across India. [23] Hence McDonald compliments Adajania's decision to film women from various backgrounds in the video, and not just Padukone. [23]
McDonald also quotes following lines from the lyric [24]
"...Your mind is caged, let it free. My body is not, let it be ... My choice: To love temporarily, or to lust forever. My choice: to love a man, or a woman, or both. Remember, you are my choice. I'm not your privilege. ..."
— Kersi Khambatta, My choice (2015 film) Referred by source:Washington Post dated 2015/04/01. [25]
While quoting above lines, McDonald says speaking so openly about queer sexuality and woman's right to decide 'to have sex outside of marriage, or not at all', amounts to be quite shocking statement to conservative Indian audiences. [24]
After the criticism specially about inferred infidelity from the line "... , to have sex outside marriage ... my choice" the actress Deepika Padukone distanced herself saying that, personally institution of marriage is very holy and sacred to her and that personally she would not endorse of infidelity. Padukone said at her personal level she did not agree with some of the lines in the script, but conveying larger message of the film was important to her and that she felt a bit disappointed to know that certain lines were taken out of context and blown too much out of proportion that makes us miss the larger point that the film was trying to make. [26]
According to Professor Dr. Gauri D Chakraborty advent of neoliberal feminism in films like "My choice", "Veere Di Wedding" etc. is result of complex interplay of gender constructions within and between governments, markets, and civil societies encompassing multiple ideological intersections. [27] Mallika Khanna says these new generation of urban elite successful women are finding visibility of their aspirations through Indian film industry Bollywood new genre, of "women-centric" movies'. [4] Khanna notes Alka Kurian's perspective that Indian feminism has been a socialist endeavor which prioritized empowerment of marginalized communities at the cost of empowerment of the individual's aspirations; Khanna analyzes Kurian , highlighting that historically Indian feminism has been intersectional and community-based, often sidelining individual choice and agency. She notes that during the 1990s, neoliberalism, intertwined with nationalistic paternalism, infantilized women. In contrast, contemporary demands for personal autonomy—such as desire, freedom of movement, aesthetics, and choice—represent a direct challenge to that earlier paternalism. [4] Khanna says, the "empowered independent woman" has become kind of a modern feminist trend in contemporary India. Khanna terms them as neoliberal feminist gaze and where as Hemangini Gupta terms it as "entrepreneurial" feminism. This trend represents such women who crave for significant success, wish to overtly challenge the patriarchy and demand choices that affirm emancipation, they wish to see their dreams come true and satisfied through the goods they buy; these women are new key demographic in India at which campaigns and advertisement like "My Choice" are aimed. Khanna states the women who are not part of this success story are left unnoticed. [4]
Namrata Rele Sathe, in her chapter 'Choices choices: The myth of neoliberal progress in India', says that the promotion of "My choice" directly engages with the image of the idealized Indian woman who is defined by her participation in heterosexual marriage and domestic space. Rele Sathe says, she would not prefer to be hasty in rejecting Vogue's this empowerment advert altogether for the reason that it raises relevant questions with regards to women's freedom and discusses the politics of sexuality, though conceptualization there in is limited by it's context within economics of neoliberalism. [14]
... Embedded with absolute rejection of normative and prescriptive roles, it unleashed the acceptance of the flaws and the unbending millennial women. ... The Vogue campaign evoked strong positive and negative responses from a society scandalized by its blatantness or uninhibited expression of the challenging status quo of patriarchy enmeshed within the celebrity rhetoric. ...
.. In the short film, Deepika talks about women's prerogative of choice with the aim of raising awareness for the cause of women's right in India. ..
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link).. She asks people to stop passing judgments on women for their choice of attire, profession, sexual orientation or even the way in which they live their life. ..
.. features the 29-year-old actress calling for a change in the "caged" mindset of men about women and asking them to stop judging women for their choices of clothes, profession and life. ..
.. The bindi on my forehead is an ornament with a deep significance. . ..
.. The music has been composed by French composer Matthias Duplessy ("Finding Fanny") using a Mongolian throat singing technique along with acoustic percussion instruments. ..
"It is a feminism that never mentions women's liberation, instead opting for a celebration of "choice". .. It's been a big month for "choice feminism". In late March, the fashion magazine empire Vogue launched a "My Choice" video in India as part of its Vogue Empower campaign which, quite literally, reduced women's empowerment to a series of choices. .. The video went viral and, as the India-based reporter Gunjeet Sra noted, the hypocrisy of an "industry that is based on fetishising, objectifying and reinforcing sexist standards of beauty on women", supposedly promoting feminism, went largely unremarked.
...that we had choices to make, despite being Satre-fully aware of the weight of having only ourselves to blame for the consequences of those choices." ..."These choices depend on our personalities,....They also depend on our financial status, on the attitudes of our spouses,...Any choice is obviously the outcome of a delicate web of circumstances,..." ...."...While I agree that women should have the right to decide what is best for them, exclusively focusing on choice can distract from the limited range of those choices....
...The idea that choosing to have a baby does not involve a partner, that sex outside marriage is a lifestyle choice that can't be questioned, and that women simply choose their body size, is enough for anyone to immediately want to banish "choice" from the human lexicon....
.. The numbers say another unqualified success; the substance says it heralds the arrival of Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pig in India. The book critiqued the raunch culture of America where women were objectified and encouraged to objectify each other. ..
... This is pretty heady stuff, considering that Padukone works in an industry where kissing onscreen is still subject to censorship in her country. She's speaking openly about queer sexuality and her right to decide to have sex outside of marriage, or not at all. More than anything, "My Choice" is a call to recognize and respect women's agency. ...
... Which is why Adajania's decision to include a range of women in the video, and not just Padukone, was a smart one. Padukone's star power certainly attracts attention, but the issues she's raising affect women all across India. ...
... In the video, called "My Choice," Padukone intones, "Your mind is caged, let it free. My body is not, let it be ... My choice: *To lust temporarily, or to love forever (sic). My choice: to love a man, or a woman, or both. Remember, you are my choice. I'm not your privilege." (*Correct original line: To love temporarily, or to lust forever) This is pretty heady stuff, considering that Padukone works in an industry where kissing onscreen is still subject to censorship in her country. She's speaking openly about queer sexuality and her right to decide to have sex outside of marriage, or not at all. More than anything, "My Choice" is a call to recognize and respect women's agency. ....
"...I didn't endorse infidelity in 'My Choice': Deepika Padukone"..." (Pending: a little more details of the quotes from the news article need to be shared)