Soon after actress Sunny Leone's latest song 'Madhuban Mein Radhika' surfaced on YouTube, it has been surrounded by controversies. Sung by Kanika Kapoor, the song was released on December 22. A Delhi-based lawyer has filed a complaint against Leone, among others, seeking a ban on the song as her dance performance "hurts religious sentiments". The parties to the complaint are the music company Saregama, Sunny Leone, lyricist Manoj Yadav and singers Shaarib and Toshi, Kanika Kapoor, and Arindam Chakraborty. Not just this, but netizens had also shared their displeasure over the song.
The song is a reprised version of Mohammed Rafi's song 'Madhuban Mein Radhika Nache' from Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari’s film, Kohinoor. It was originally released in 1960 and has been a popular hit to date.
Know the controversy of old VS new song
The words ‘Madhuban mein Radhika naache’ evoke memories of the 1960 film Kohinoor. The Hindustani classical music-based song was composed by Naushad and sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song was enacted by Dilip Kumar. But the new song is a peppy dance number by Leone. Apart from the rearranged opening lyrics, the rest has no resemblance to Dilip's 1960 song.
Madhuban Mein Radhika Naache: According to the Delhi-based lawyer, "Lyrics, the theme and the seductive moves of Sunny Leone and her flamboyant performance on the song depicting Hindu goddess Radha -- also known as Radhika -- are highly condemnable and derogatory for the Hindu belief and their community's sentiments," advocate Vineet Jindal claimed in the complaint filed with the Delhi Police.
"The Bollywood actress has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by performing an obscene dance on the iconic 'Madhuban mein Radhika naache' and has maligned the prestige of Brijbhumi by presenting the song in an offensive manner. The song is on the subject of love between Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha, the pure divinity of which is of utmost significance to the Hindu community," the complaint read.
Mahesh Pathak, National President of All India Teerth Purohit Mahasabha has said, ‘Sunny Leone has tarnished the reputation of Brijbhoomi by presenting the song in a 'derogatory manner'. Also, Sant Naval Giri Maharaj of Vrindaban said, "We will go to court if the government does not act against the actress and ban her video album." He added that Sunny should not be allowed to stay in India until she withdraws the video and apologises publicly.
