Sona Mohapatra Talks About Ways To Smash Patriarchy In Bollywood

Mumbai: Popular singer Sona Mohapatra took to social media to share a list of suggestions which she wants implemented in Bollywood to ‘smash the patriarchy’ the right way.

In a series of tweets, Mohapatra advocated for equal pay for female actors and encouraging female directors among others.

“Lets do this the right way dear Bollywood & India cus the rest is mostly hot air,” she tweeted.

Lets do this the right way dear #Bollywood & #India cus the rest is mostly hot air. 1) Pay your top actresses the same as your top actors.2) Write enough worthy roles 3) Film them ‘solo songs’ to make them larger than life? (No, item numbers don’t count) . #SmashThePatriarchy

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) September 11, 2020

Mohapatra’s suggestions are as follows.

1. “PAY YOUR TOP ACTRESSES THE SAME AS YOUR TOP ACTORS. The gender wage gap in Bollywood is not a new phenomenon. Actresses are widely known to get paid less for an equal share of work and also command less respect and appreciation for their work.
2. “WRITE ENOUGH WORTHY ROLES”
3. “FILM THEM IN ‘SOLO SONGS’ TO MAKE THEM LARGER THAN LIFE? (NO, ITEM NUMBERS DON’T COUNT)”
4. “SPEAK UP (AT LEAST ONCE?)” about ur superstar of ages, a poster boy of toxic masculinity, a bully, serial abuser of women’s rights.
5. “BE MORE INCLUSIVE IN UR CHOICES OF FILM TECHNICIANS” Don’t assume a female DOP cannot shoot a big budget film cus she’s not ‘strong’ enough?! Some of the best films of west are shot by women!My fav;Ellen Kuras. Movie camera Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
6. WHY MALE SINGERS > FEMALE SINGERS? Worry and do something about the horrendous statistics of only 8/9 songs out of the 100 released by you having a female singer in #Bollywood. The solo female songs always reprise versions, never to be promoted.
7. “BE ASHAMED OF THE SYSTEMIC-INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM” Be ashamed of the systemic-institutional sexism, misogyny & lopsided power structure in the industry where NOT ONE lead actress or actor spoke up about the inconvenient truths in the #MeToo movement. Almost everyone looked the other way.
8. “TRUST WOMEN DIRECTORS” Trust women directors(not just the ones from the film families) with bigger production budgets. They are less likely to blow it up on wasteful ego-driven choices. Financing a woman driven project is difficult as hell.
9. “Stop casting 50 plus Male ‘heroes’ in romantic angles with women half their age...
10. “Cast older actresses for older women’s roles at least? Also, why should lead actresses be pushed to retirement and oblivion in their mid 30’s while men carry on endlessly??”