Sona Mohapatra is changing the conversation about gender bias in Bollywood music. The singer, known for her outspoken personality, said that heartbreak and romantic songs are dominated by male artists. She added that because of the same, it leaves little creative space for women.
Sona Mohapatra takes aim at the male-centric music industry in Bollywood
In a video shared on her Instagram account from an event she attended, Mohapatra made a pointed observation about how female singers are sidelined even during duets. Recalling his experience with the popular 2017 Raees song ‘Zaalima’, originally sung by: Arijit Singh and Harshdeep Kaur and described in: Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira Khan, he said, “All offensive songs in Bollywood are reserved for boys. Men have sadness, men at this time feel love. Because every time I’m called to do a duet, I have an ending chorus. You must hear this song called ‘Zaalima’. This is Arijit [Singh]song, and I was called to sing that, and I was amazed.”
Sona Mohapatra questions the structure of duets in Bollywood
Asked why women’s voices always appear only in the last moments of a song, he added, “Because the mukhra, antara, mukhra, antara… they are all taken by the man. It is not Arijit’s fault; he is a great artist. But why does the woman come last? My question to Pritam: is, ‘Does a man love himself?’ What kind of duet is this? … The thing is, it’s nobody’s fault, but the music industry system has become less dangerous.”Taking the debate to the comments section of her post, Sona connected the lack of female-led songs to the wider decline of iconic female stars in Indian music. She wrote, “This conversation is about representation. If an industry stops creating iconic female narratives, it will eventually stop creating iconic female stars.”He further argued that the imbalance is systemic and long-standing, not accidental. Sona added, “The point is not that women have never sung heartbreaking songs. The point is that Bollywood has stopped writing enough of them. An industry that has given 80-90% of its biggest romantic and heartbreaking narratives to male voices for nearly two decades should not be surprised when it struggles to produce female music stars on a culturally equal scale. This is a conversation about systems, not victims. Count the songs. Shall we talk then?”Mohapatra, who has previously spoken out about sexism, objectification, and the lack of female agency in mainstream Indian films, continues to be one of the industry’s most consistent and fearless voices on gender representation issues.