- Sona Mohapatra criticised gender imbalance in Bollywood music
- She highlighted that male singers dominate heartbreak tracks
- Mohapatra used the song 'Zaalima' to illustrate how men lead most parts, questioning the duet structure
Singer Sona Mohapatra has criticised gender imbalance in Bollywood music, saying female voices are often sidelined in romantic and heartbreak songs. Speaking at a recent event, she pointed to a pattern where male singers dominate romantic and heartbreak tracks, especially in Bollywood.
Attending the MBI Festival of Letters, Sona explained how female singers are often sidelined even in duets.
She said, "All those heartbreak songs in Bollywood are reserved for the men. Men have heartbreak; men in current times feel love. Because every time I was called to sing a duet, I somehow had the ending chorus. You must hear this song called Zaalima. It is Arijit [Singh]'s song, and I was called to sing that, and I was flabbergasted."
Elaborating further, she questioned the structure of such songs.
"Because the mukhra, antara, mukhra, antara... all of them were taken up by the man. It is not Arijit's fault; he is a great artist. But why does the female come in at the end? My question to Pritam was, 'Is the man making love to himself? What kind of a duet is this? Why do I come in at the end?' This is a literature festival, and freedom of speech is something Kerala has protected so widely, so I am taking my chances here. The thing is, it is nobody's fault, but the system of music in the industry has become so risk-averse."
She continued the discussion in the comments section of her post, stressing that the issue goes beyond individual songs.
She wrote, "This conversation is about representation. If an industry stops creating iconic female narratives, will it eventually stop creating iconic female stars? Who cares? Do we, India? Check the comment section of this reel."
Sona also shed light on a broader trend over the years, adding, "The point isn't that women never sang heartbreak songs. The point is that Bollywood stopped writing enough of them. An industry that gives 80-90% of its biggest romantic and heartbreak narratives to male voices for nearly two decades should not be surprised when it struggles to produce female music stars of equal cultural scale. This is a conversation about systems, not victims. Count the songs. Then let's talk?"
The song Zaalima was sung by Arijit Singh and Harshdeep Kaur and featured actors Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira Khan. It was part of the 2017 film Raees.
Also Read: Sona Mohapatra Reacts To Peddi Row: 'Toxic Masculinity Is Called Romance In Such Films'
