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Sona Mohaptra creates her version of Shah Rukh Khan’s Zaalima, video shows Arijit Singh as Raavan
Check out the video that Sona Mohapatra has created, taking a dig at Arijit Singh with her latest song Zaalima.
Singer Sona Mohapatra has posted a recreated version of Zaalima from Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees and it is all about the fight for gender equality in the music industry. Written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, the new version is simply the female version of the original one crooned by Arijit Singh.
The video, however, shows Arijit as Raavan while Sona is shown as a goddess, seated on a lotus flower. The YouTube video comes with a tagline ‘Women Love to romance too’.
Sona posted the song on Facebook where she revealed that she was asked to croon a few lines of the original Arijit Singh song. She wrote, “Few know that I had been called to sing the last few lines of the film version but couldn’t fathom why only the last few lines were reserved for the female voice considering it was a romantic duet! So I made a solo female reprise which didn’t find a place in the soundtrack & also decided to create this in-house video with some interesting ‘gender-political’ messaging about the state of the music industry some time ago with the help of talented young artist Ragini Khandelwal.”
She added, “The SONA stickers by Wamika Kapoor. Hoping this spreads cheer & even some laughs to drive away the lockdown blues. This DIY video should be taken with a pinch of salt although any good or dark comedy does come from a truthful place; our film-music has completely sidelined the strong solo female voice in the last decade & it’s time for all of us to notice.”
Talking about the gender-politics, Sona had earlier told Hindustan Times in an interview, “I have been called up for such songs and I have walked out of studios because I don’t want to sing a song where a mukhra-antara, mukhra-antara is Arijit and I sing the last four lines. It is almost like a man wants to make love to himself in a song. Even in a romantic duet, if the female gets a part only in the end, it is very bizarre and this is in a country where we couldn’t put out a sound track without a (Lata) Mangeshkar voice!”
Sharing the song on Twitter as well, Sona tagged Shah Rukh and wrote, “Dear @iamsrk , here is a Reprise of Raees’s Zaalima which didn’t find its way to the film soundtrack. Always known you to be such a charming, chivalrous absolute gentleman. Also someone with a brilliant sense of humour! Do give this a watch & listen “
About the new song, Sona said in a press statement, “Musicians have been hit the hardest in recent times. There are no residuals or royalties for creators here unlike the west & unless we step out to play concerts on stage we don’t make money. It’s only sweat labour in India. The lockdown & post Covid era will hit the musicians even harder with no stages to play in & the economy focusing on essentials. In these grim times, most artists in my community have been setting aside their own emotional state & performing online to spread joy & love & I am so proud of all of them!”
Watch the original song here:
She further said, “ In these times you realise that it’s mostly musicians who have the craft & talent to deliver without too many resources or people helping them. My DIY video should be taken with a pinch of salt although any good comedy does come from a truthful place; our film-music has completely sidelined the strong solo female voice in the last decade & it’s time for all of us to notice.”
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