Singer Sona Mohapatra has spoken out about the lack of female representation in Bollywood's heartbreak songs, claiming they are 'reserved' for men. She cited the example of Arijit Singh's song 'Zaalima' from the 2017 film Raees, where she was called to sing the duet but only got to sing the ending chorus.
According to Sona, the system of music in the industry has become 'risk averse' and is not creating enough iconic female narratives. She pointed out that Bollywood gives 80-90% of its biggest romantic and heartbreak narratives to male voices, which is why it struggles to produce female music stars of equal cultural scale.
Sona emphasized that this is a conversation about systems, not victims, and encouraged people to count the songs and then talk about it. She also highlighted the importance of representation and how it can impact the industry's ability to produce female music stars.
