Sona Mohapatra Raises Concerns Over Female Representation in Bollywood Songs

Singer Sona Mohapatra has reignited the debate around gender representation in Bollywood music, arguing that romantic and heartbreak songs are increasingly written from a male perspective, leaving female singers with limited space even in tracks promoted as duets.

Speaking at the MBI Festival of Letters, Mohapatra said the industry’s biggest emotional narratives have largely been reserved for male voices over the past two decades. She used the popular song Zaalima from the 2017 film Raees to illustrate what she believes is a wider trend.

“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 had the ending chorus. You must hear this song called Zaalima. It is Arijit [Singh]’s song, and I was called to sing that, and I was flabbergasted,” she said.

‘What Kind of a Duet Is This?’

Reflecting on the structure of the song, Mohapatra questioned why female singers often receive significantly less space in romantic duets.

“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 does the female come in at 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 at the end?’”

She stressed that her criticism was not directed at individual artists. Instead, she described the issue as a consequence of broader industry practices.

“The thing is, it is nobody’s fault, but the system of music in the industry has become so risk-averse,” she added.

Debate Extends Beyond One Song

Mohapatra continued the discussion on social media, arguing that the issue is fundamentally about representation rather than any single track or performer.

“This conversation is about representation. If an industry stops creating iconic female narratives, will it eventually stop creating iconic female stars? Who cares? Do we, India?” she wrote while responding to reactions to her remarks.

The singer also argued that Bollywood has gradually reduced the number of female-led romantic and heartbreak songs, affecting the visibility and cultural impact of women in the music industry.

“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?”

A Long-Running Conversation on Representation

Mohapatra has frequently spoken about issues related to sexism, objectification and female agency in the entertainment industry. Her latest remarks extend that conversation to Bollywood music, where she believes creative decisions have increasingly favoured male perspectives in love songs and emotional ballads.

The singer’s comments have sparked fresh discussion about how romantic narratives are distributed between male and female artists and whether the industry’s songwriting trends have contributed to a decline in female-led musical storytelling.

The song Zaalima, which Mohapatra referenced during her remarks, was sung by Arijit Singh and Harshdeep Kaur for the 2017 film Raees, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira Khan. The track went on to become one of the film’s most popular songs.