Sona Mohapatra says Bollywood sad songs are ‘made for men’; Calls out gender bias in the industry
Sona Mohapatra has reignited the debate on sexism in Bollywood music. The singer, known for her outspoken personality, claimed that sad songs and romantic songs are overwhelmingly dominated by male artists.
She added that because of this, he did not leave much creative space for women.
Sona Mohapatra takes aim at the male-centric music industry in Bollywood
In a video shared on her Instagram account from an event she attended, Mohapatra made a pointed observation about how female singers are marginalized even in duos. Recalling her experience with the Raees’ 2017 hit song “Zaalima”, originally sung by Arijit Singh and Harshdeep Kaur and picturized on Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira Khan, she said, “All those sad songs in Bollywood are for men.
Men have heartbreak, and men right now feel love. Because every time I’m called upon to sing a duet, I somehow own the ending chorus. You should hear this song called “Zalima”. It’s Arijit [Singh]A song, and I was called to sing it, and I was blown away.”
Sona Mohapatra questions the structure of Bollywood’s dualities
She wondered why female voices constantly appeared only in the last moments of the song, and added: “Because the makhra and the antar, the makhra and the antar… were all taken by the man. It is not Arijit’s fault, he is a great artist. But why does the female come at the end? My question to
Pritam
It was: Does a man love himself? What kind of duo is this? …The thing is, it’s no one’s fault, but the music industry system has become risk averse.
Taking the discussion to the comments section of her post, Sona linked the lack of female-led songs to the broader decline of female music stars in India. “This conversation is about representation. If an industry stops creating iconic female stories, it will eventually stop creating iconic stars,” she wrote.
She also said the imbalance was systemic and long-term, rather than episodic.
Sona added, “The point is not that women have never sung heartbreaking songs. The point is that Bollywood has stopped writing enough of them. An industry that has been giving 80-90% of its biggest romantic and sad stories to male voices for almost two decades should not be surprised when it struggles to produce female music stars on the same cultural level.”
This is a conversation about systems, not victims. Count the songs. Then let’s talk?”Mohapatra, who has previously spoken out about sexism, objectification, and lack of female agency in mainstream Hindi films, remains one of the industry’s most consistent and courageous voices on issues of gender representation.