Singer and music producer Sona Mohapatra is known for lending her voice to melodious numbers like Ambarsariya, Bahara, Jiya Laage Na, Bekhauff, and Bedardi Raja among others. The songstress is known for not mincing her words while voicing her opinions. She is currently gearing up for the release of her documentary ‘Shut Up Sona’ that starts streaming July 1 on ZEE5.
‘Shut Up Sona’ is an intimate journey of Sona Mohapatra that captures her in all lights: performing to enraptured crowds, rehearsing the music she loves, and in quiet, candid moments at home, considering her next moves.
In an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, Sona shared how the documentary was a commentary on the industry through a feminine lens. She also pointed out the fact that there are no solo female songs being made in the music industry.
Read the excerpts from her exclusive interview:
How do you feel about your documentary finally being released?
I’m happy and excited because the film releases finally after 4 years of our journey, across festivals and then having won the national award. But the most exciting part is when you can show your film to your own country, to the audience that listens to your music, and hopefully listens to your voice, even outside of music. So, I think India is going to get to watch it and that is what excited me the most.
What were the challenges and difficulties you faced while making Shut Up Sona?
It’s always a challenge to set up a project, which is I think first of its kind. Although, saying so myself makes me very immodest, but I’m okay being immodest on this. Documentary as a genre in India, first of all, is not really that understood. It seems that a very elite set of people make it, and when they see it at festivals. But in the pandemic, a lot of new kinds of content became very popular, so the tastes have changed. My film used to make a lot of people laugh when we had the theatricals across the world.
I have a firm belief that India is going to enjoy it, not only for the narrative that it has but it has a lot for its music. It also gives you a window into a female artist’s journey that includes a lot of navigation, because you are being pushed back all the time because the opportunities that are there for you are kind of always secondary to the men artists. There is a compromise that you keep thinking that you are being put under. But having said all that I did make a film, and it is getting released and there is a music album coming out of its music alongside, and I’m getting to sing the kind of songs that I truly believe in. So it’s desi, its roots and I’m in Delhi so, you can say the Nizamuddin Mosque is a very important part of my film. Women haven’t been allowed to sing over there for over 800 years. It is very popular for Thursday Qawali, and one of the most moving scenes from the documentary has been shot there.
How does the documentary focus on issues like misogyny prevalent in the country as well as in the music industry?
That is one side of the film, gender politics is a thing. It is a window into the music ecosystem in our industry where the opportunities for women’s voices are very few. It was not the case 15 20 years ago, it has become like that in the last decade and a half, which makes it very startling and very disturbing. Do you feel you are becoming more modern as a country or area you regressing when it comes to the entertainment industry because the number of songs for women has gone down dramatically? They are in single digits. Out of 100 songs, not more than 8 or 9 songs have a female voice. It is something that nobody has noticed. The fact that I have to talk about it in every interview and say listen to radio. Please see that there are no solo female songs being made. Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan of 20 years ago, and maybe Neha Kakkar, who is known maybe because she is sitting on Indian Idol, and is very hardworking on social media- doesn’t make for the fact that we have more than 100 male stars. Every two years, we have a big male star and we have very few women artists and if this is the case, then the entertainment industry which is supposed to be more broad-minded, what would be the case in the rest of the country.
A school of thought believes that you have an opinion about everything…
Who are those people? I’m an artist. I live a life fully and create beautiful music. I make my own videos, and I’ve made my own film. The things that I’ve talked about, be it the Salman Khan controversy, be it somebody talking like a bigot, be it somebody praising a misogynistic theme in a film and thinking stalking is fine, be it someone saying I walk like a raped woman, and joking about raped women – these are things that I’ve raised as an issue. Be it somebody lip-syncing at a concert, or be it actors saying they will open for a big international band when there are musicians to be singing on the stage. We have Sonakshi Sinha and Farhan Akhtar opening for Coldplay, these are the issues I have talked about. In a country like ours, all of us should be talking about such things. At the end of the day, I really feel that there’ll have to be more opinion pieces in the media. Why is it only around the politics and of the land? Pop culture is affected hugely by music, the entertainment industry, how women are portrayed in films, and how men are shown to be the only ones having swag. Why is it that all the Punjabi songs are about “I’ll get you, Gucci Prada, I will take you shopping.” Are women so easy to buy, that If you will take me shopping you can be sitting in my pocket? Or like “Tu mujhpe marti hai, mujhpe jaan chidakti hai” and “Tu toh gainda hain be, tere pe kyon marti hoon main ladkiyon ki awaz kaha hai ki ladkiya kya bol rahi hain. “Where is the voice of women? What are they saying in our popular culture? “Main sundar hoon. Main aapko rijhane aayo hoon..” that can’t be the only voice that women have in such a big country. I think there are powerful things to be talked about event from a feminine perspective.
They don’t have to be angry, they don’t have to be ‘Mujhe kya bechega rupaiya.’ That is coincidentally one of my biggest songs. Sings the song and says, “this song didn’t have any promotion, no radio play, no Filmfare award was given, no one was backing it. One playout on a TV show on a Sunday morning, in a depressing uncool topic like dowry. But India loves this song, not only girls but boys. I think we need to have different kinds of musical voices; we need to have these conversations. I don’t have to feel defensive or made to feel bad that you opine about everything. Thank goodness I do, many more should be. Not only to show that they have opened some Being Human organization for watching signalling- you don’t have to do that. You have to walk your talk every day, in terms of what you believe and what you stand for. And I’m taking the risk, I’m getting a pushback. I would have been isolated but I’ve found a lot of incredible allies, I find people who celebrate what I am and what I stand for which is a reason why our film is getting released in a country like us.”
How will the documentary affect the music artists and coming-of-age youngsters?
I think many more will try and make such documentaries. There will be many me too, but at the same time, I’m being very pompous. I take pride in saying it is the first of its kind. But at the same time, jokes apart from that is being very pompous which an artist can afford to be. I have mood swings and I seem to be having a lot of it right now. I’m just out of COVID by the way, so if anybody says that COVID is like a viral fever it’s not. It really saps you out like nothing else. Having said that I think we are living in better times and things are getting better, there is Gurmeet Monga, and Shonali Bhose making films. There is an Anushka Sharma who’s turned producer, there are women who are doing better and owning their place in the power chain. I think to whatever extent there was a MeToo movement that made people aware of how to talk about women. How to behave with them in the workspace. They don’t need to take the handcuffs and go to jail, like the Hindi film style. There is a change that is happening, there are a bunch of people including me who want to stick their necks out, who are okay with irritating a bunch of people, but want to make a change- a good chance.
