Rebel with a song

Sona Mohapatra, singer

PTI2_15_2018_000058A PTI

Feisty and fearless, singer Sona Mohapatra has never been afraid to call out people, even those like Sachin Tendulkar and Salman Khan. Here, she talks about what the lockdown has done to the country and about her documentary, Shut Up Sona, which depicts her life, music and activism.

How has the lockdown impacted you?

I feel lucky to have no complaints. I can understand many of the issues the country is facing. No one really knows how this is going to pan out. I have also noticed this sudden realisation among people about the plight of the poor in India, which is a good thing. Then there is a whole new brigade that is making judgments about what we should or should not be doing—we should not be sharing food pictures or singing songs.... Honestly, every pain is valid. Everybody is trying to cope with a situation that nobody could have predicted. I feel in times like these, we should not make judgments.

Your documentary, Shut Up Sona, was doing its run on the festival circuit.

It was headed to the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and some of the other big festivals in the world as an official selection. Obviously, that journey is not happening because of the pandemic. I am a first-time producer and have put all my savings into the film. But I cannot be complaining when even the Olympics has been postponed. What really makes me sad, however, is that the streaming platforms, which [initially] gave hope to new filmmakers and artistes, have gone back to the same five or six families [in the industry] who anyway provide the Bollywood junk that comes our way. The nepotism is disheartening.

The film is quite interesting in how it balances your activism and your love for folk music.

My love for roots music. It is a love letter to India. Making the film was a very organic process. It was quite ambitious in scale and took three years of shooting across more than 17 cities, towns and villages of India. It is a very intimate look into my life because the person who shot the film is a friend. The reaction has been overwhelming. I am not a funny person, so the laughs [of the viewers while watching the film] surprised me. But it was great. Ram (Sampath, husband) has always told me that I am an extremely fun and happy person. It does not show on Twitter [because] only the angry stuff gets amplified.

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