Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin: A look at women who used social media to raise their voice for important issues


Deepika recently released a video on women empowerment. We look at other actors who used social media to raise their voice for important issues


Be it for clarifying their stance about controversies or having an opinion about the current scenario in the country, Bollywood actors are now increasingly resorting to social media to make their voices heard. They seem to be making good use of the medium to propogate a larger cause that deserves attention. Over the past one year the trend of celebrities collaborating with comedians and artistes on a video sharing platform like YouTube is on an upsurge. We take a look at some actors who have been a part of such special videos in the recent past.


Deepika Padukone


Homi Adajania directed Deepika Padukone in a video — My Choice for the Vogue Empower campaign. The video that went viral on various social networking sites, talks about women empowerment. “It is my choice to live life the way I want, to wear clothes I like, to decide how I want my body to be, when I want to get married or if I ever want to walk down the aisle, to decide if I want to be straight or a lesbian,” the actress says in the video. Talking about the same at the launch of the video, Deepika said, “I personally feel empowered when you are not caged, when you don’t succumb to expectations, when you speak your mind and you do the things that you want to do or you do the things that make you happy.”


Richa Chadha


The actress made her foray into the digital medium space with Arranged Date — a satirical video on the concept of arranged marriage. She collaborated with stand-up comedian and good friend Aditi Mittal for this video that released on Womens’ Day. The video featured a rap song produced by Culture Machine and had Richa dressed as a bride-to-be. It takes a dig at the quirky and unexpected results of going on a date set up by parents. Capturing the sentiments of a generation that is torn between finding their own life path and being pressured by elders to follow the ‘safe’ and ‘traditional’ path. Richa says, “Aditi asked me to feature in her video. It was meant to throw light on a very specific problem — how as soon as a girl hits 20 there’s significant marital pressure on her. Which is illogical and somewhat sad. I liked her take on the issue so I decided to be a part of the song.”


Alia Bhatt


Vikas Bahl directed Alia Bhatt in a short film based on women’s safety titled Going Home. The five-minute video shows Alia driving her car all alone at night and suddenly her car breaks down. Soon after, she is spotted by a group of men who not only offer to help fix her car but also safely drop her home. The video was a refreshing change and spoke about how the attitude of men towards women can change the entire mindset. Talking about the film, Alia says, “It was my bit that I did towards standing up for the causes I believe in. Sometimes, I feel I don’t do enough about issues that need to be discussed. But social media has become a huge medium and I will definitely do more for things that matter to me.”


Kalki Koechlin


Actress Kalki Koechlin and VJ Juhi Pandey’s video – It’s Your Fault — went viral minutes after it was released online. The video talks about how in India, it is always the women who are blamed for rape. The satirical video on rape took a dig at some statements that were made by public figures on gang-rapes in the country. The four-minute-video was made in reaction to the numerous gang-rapes in the country where politicians and others made a series of comments blaming everything from mobile phones to short skirts and noodles for violence against women. Their video said, “Every sexual assault case in India inspires a string of stupid and hateful remarks against women. This is our response to those remarks.”






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