Singer Sona Mohapatra has sparked a conversation about gender representation in Bollywood music, raising concerns over the limited space given to female voices in romantic and heartbreak songs. Speaking at a recent event, the singer reflected on how some of the industry's biggest emotional narratives have increasingly been centered around male perspectives, often leaving women with a secondary role in songs marketed as duets.
A clip from the discussion was later shared on her social media, where Mohapatra candidly spoke about her experience of recording songs in the Hindi film industry.
Sona Mohapatra recalls her experience with ‘Zaalima’
During the conversation, Mohapatra cited the popular song ‘Zaalima’ from the 2017 film Raees as an example. The track was sung by Arijit Singh and Harshdeep Kaur and featured Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira Khan on screen.
Reflecting on the song's structure, she said, “All those heartbreak songs in Bollywood are reserved for the men. Men have heartbreak, men in current times feel love. Because every time I was called to sing a duet, I somehow have the ending chorus. You must hear this song called Zaalima. It is Arijit's song, and I was called to sing that and I was flabbergasted.”
She further added, “Because the mukhra, antara, mukhra, antara… all of them were taken up by the man. It is not Arijit's fault; he is a great artist. But why is the female coming in the end? My question to Pritam was, ‘Is the man making love to himself?’ What kind of a duet is this? Why do I come in the end?”
Singer highlights industry-wide pattern
Mohapatra clarified that her criticism was not directed at any individual artist. Instead, she pointed to what she believes is a larger trend within the music industry.
“The thing is it is nobody's fault but the system of music in the industry has become so risk averse,” she said, while also noting that she felt comfortable raising the issue in a space that encourages open discussion.
The singer argued that creative decisions over the years have resulted in fewer memorable female-led musical narratives. According to her, this has also impacted the emergence of female music stars with the same cultural visibility as their male counterparts.
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Mohapatra later elaborated on her views in the comments section of the post, stressing that the issue is about representation rather than individual performers. “This conversation is about representation. If an industry stops creating iconic female narratives, it will eventually stop creating iconic female stars,” she wrote.
She further added, “The point isn’t that women never sang heartbreak songs. The point is that Bollywood stopped writing enough of them. An industry that gives 80–90% of its biggest romantic and heartbreak narratives to male voices for nearly two decades should not be surprised when it struggles to produce female music stars of equal cultural scale. This is a conversation about systems, not victims. Count the songs. Then let’s talk?”
Her remarks have reignited discussions about gender balance in Bollywood music and the importance of creating more diverse narrative spaces for female artists.
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