Deepika Padukone – “My Choice”

From: Vogue India

What happens when 99 women from varying walks of life come together to send out one powerful message?

A collaboration between director Homi Adajania and Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, and produced by JSW and Sangita Jindal, 'My Choice' is one more short film made dedicated to #VogueEmpower, Vogue India's social awareness initiative. Based on a piece written by Kersi Khambatta, the video has been shot by Tassaduq Hussain.

What can you expect? Imagine shot after shot of women including Nimrat Kaur, Adhuna Akhtar, Anupama Chopra, Scherezade Shroff and more who have made a difference in their respective careers telling you every single thing they see as their right as women. Why 99 women? "I liked the idea of telling people I originally had 100 women planned but God said the last one was too busy right now," says Adajania.

"In my family, my father is the only male in the house, but all of us have a voice,"says Padukone. "I've always been allowed to be who I want to be. When you're not caged, when you don't succumb to expectation, that's when you're empowered."

The aim of the Vogue Empower initiative, launched with the seventh anniversary issue, is to encourage people to think, talk and act in ways big or small on issues pertaining to women's empowerment. The message is simple: It starts with you.