Should Deepika be blamed for starring in the VogueEmpower short film?
In the past few days, two issues got the most reactions in the Indian Media. One was on why it took Salman Khan's driver 13 long years to realize he was at the wheel? The other one which was the most sensationalized and went on to become a national issue was the Vogue Empower video starring Deepika Padukone and 98 other women. Here is the video.
I
have already done my part of debating on how the video does not reflect
women empowerment in any sense, nor does it prove that a woman can be
empowered just by having a freedom of choice. But now, I would also like
to disagree on how Deepika is being blamed for the entire video and the
message it sends out.
It's so simple to realize that this is an ad and Deepika was just a part
of it. Just because she was in it does not make all the views portrayed
in the video as hers. It is not her personal blog/diary/movie with a
disclaimer that everything shown on that video is purely her opinion.
Heck, it was just another job for her and she must have been paid for
it. How many of us would turn down lots of money just because it
conflicts with our principles?
Agreed that though for a good cause, the film failed to connect with the
masses and say anything apt about women empowerment, I still don't see a
reason why Deepika has to be blamed. This also reminds me of how just a
few days ago, Anushka was boo-ed and blamed for Virat Kohli's bad
performance in the world cup semi finals.
Frankly speaking, Deepika has her share of senseless roles in actual
movies and still she was a role model for many. If the movie was bad,
you blamed the entire movie or the director. Then why now is only
Deepika being blamed and being called a hypocrite?
I've seen tweets which said Deepika has hit a new low by endorsing this
video. Really? I don't think so. If you look at the video as an Ad film,
it is just like any other mass produced commodity's commercial. Just
because a celebrity you like endorses something, will you end up buying
all those products? Or if a celebrity you hate endorses something that
you like, will you stop buying that product? No, right!
With freedom of choice comes responsibility. I wish there was more to
that video which put forth this point and make it more clear that on par
with men, even women have the freedom of choice. Instead it turned
into a male bashing, "women are self righteous and superior" kind of a
video. It would have been nice if the women empowerment tag was not
added to it.
Like most issues, this one too would die out in a few days. Leave poor
Deepika out of it! She is still a bold and powerful woman in her own
right!
