Sona Mohapatra says Deepika Padukone ‘promoted Chhapaak’ at IIT Bombay fest

Sona Mohapatra is standing her ground on her claims about the sexist environment of Mood Indigo, the annual fest of IIT Bombay, and that it almost never had any female artiste headlining the fest.

When a student disagreed with Sona telling her that they had Deepika Padukone as a headliner, the singer said that attending the fest to promote a film doesn’t count as headlining.

Previously in 2016, Sona had claimed in an open letter that the organisers of Mood Indigo approached her to perform at the event, but on the condition that she must collaborate with a male artiste.

Sona recently released a documentary Shut Up Sona, which tells the story of her struggle for equality, and has earned positive reviews from critics. She also urged the organisers of Mood Indigo, who had criticised her back then, to see the documentary to better understand her struggle.

Sharing pictures of her open letter from 2016 on her Twitter account on Tuesday, Sona wrote, “Dear @paraga, your alma-mater has for decades, mostly never hosted women as headliners in their cultural festival. IITB alumni, even CEO slammed me on FB for writing this.

I hope U watch my film #ShutUpSona to see what our reality as female artists in the 21st century is.” A student replied to Sona’s tweet, “Totally agree with you over the sc***ed-up female representation at our insti but before you slam us, make sure that you have the correct info- Mood Indigo has hosted headliners like Deepika Padukone. And about girls writing hurtful comments?”

Sona then said that Deepika Padukone, who attended a talk show at Mood Indigo in 2020 with her Chhapaak co-star Vikrant Massey ahead of the film’s release, wasn’t a headliner. Sona tweeted on Thursday, “1) Deepika Padukone ‘promoting’ her film Chhapaak in your campus doesn’t count as any kind of headlining cultural performance. 2) You afforded ‘paying’ her? Free obeisance to a ‘film star’ who only showed up for her own agenda. 3) Celeb worship is not = 2 performance.”

Sona’s OTT documentary Shut Up Sona, directed and shot by Deepti Gupta, released on ZEE5 on July 1. The performer has said the documentary is about a female artiste’s journey and how women do not get enough opportunities to build their brand as male artists do.