Playback singer Sona Mohapatra, who has sung hits like “Bedardi Raja,” “Ambarsariya,” and “Rangabati,” directed a lengthy tweet to Parag Agrawal, CEO of the microblogging site, describing the practice, women not to invite denounced as such headliners for cultural events at his alma mater IIT Bombay.
In her tweet, Sona wrote: “Dear @paraga, Ur Alma-Mater has mostly never hosted female headliners at her cultural festival for decades.
darling @Paraga ‘Ur alma-mater has for the most part never hosted women as headliners at its cultural festivals for decades. I hope you watch my film #ShutUpSona to see what our reality as artists is in the 21st century. & light pic.twitter.com/M1x5LCow6M— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) July 5, 2022
Sona challenged Agrawal to watch her film, Shut Up Sona, to get a sense of what female artists must go through to receive equal respect, representation and compensation.
The rest of my open letter. (PS, by the way, the IIT students came across my viral letter, including both boys and girls, the latter being particularly vicious and hurtful in their comments. The patriarchy’s minions unfortunately continue to serve in various fields.) pic.twitter.com/vEYBArgDnR
— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) July 5, 2022
She added: “I hope you watch my film #ShutUpSona to see what our reality is as artists in the 21st century. Love & Light.” She also attached screenshots of her viral open letter on Facebook.
The tweet is a reminder of what even the most successful women face when they encounter systemic sexism.
Shut Up Sona will stream on Zee5 and Zee 5 Global.
