Sona Mohapatra
Playback singer Sona Mohapatra, who has crooned hit numbers such as 'Bedardi Raja', 'Ambarsariya' and 'Rangabati', has addressed a lengthy tweet to Parag Agrawal, CEO of the microblogging site, slamming the practice of not inviting women as headliners for cultural events at his alma mater IIT Bombay. In her tweet, Sona wrote, "Dear @paraga, Ur alma-mater has for decades, mostly never hosted women as headliners in their cultural festival. IITB alumni, even CEOs slammed me on fb for writing this letter."
Sona urged Agrawal to watch her film, Shut Up Sona' to get a glimpse of what female artistes have to go through to get equal respect, representation, and remuneration.
She added, "I hope U watch my film #ShutUpSona to see what our reality as female artists in the 21rst century is. Love & Light." She also attached screenshots of her viral open letter on Facebook.
The tweet serves as a reminder to what even the most successful women have to face when they come up against systemic sexism. ALSO READ: Who is Leena Manimekalai? Why is her film poster featuring goddess Kaali getting criticised?
About 'Shut Up Sona'
Directed by Deepti Gupta and produced by Mohapatra, the documentary follows the singer as she takes on blatant misogyny on social media, tirelessly fights for equal representation of women in the music industry and stands up to all those who try to police her body, her mind, and her creativity. Mohapatra said as a woman, she was asked to "shut up" on many occasions in both her personal and professional life.
"As a woman, I’ve been told where the lines are all my life. The lines I cannot cross: don’t sing loudly, don’t voice your opinion, don’t shout back at bullies, don’t ‘mis-behave’. As a singer, artist, performer & producer, I’ve been making my way in a man’s world & the rules are skewed in their favour. I’ve been told to ‘shut up’ for bringing this up. This film is my response to those dictats, those affronts," the 46-year-old singer said in a statement.
'Shut Up Sona' is streaming on Zee5 and Zee 5 Global.
(With IANS Inputs)
