Sona Mohapatra writes to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal over sexism at his alma mater

Mumbai: Playback singer Sona Mohapatra, who has crooned hit numbers such as 'Bedardi Raja', 'Ambarsariya' and 'Rangabati', has addressed a lengthy tweet to Parag Agrawal, CEO of the microblogging site, slamming the practice of not inviting women as headliners for cultural events at his alma mater IIT Bombay.

In her tweet, Sona wrote, "Dear @paraga, Ur alma-mater has for decades, mostly never hosted women as headliners in their cultural festival. IITB alumni, even CEOs slammed me on fb for writing this letter."

Dear @paraga ,Ur alma-mater has for decades,mostly never hosted women as headliners in their cultural festival.IITB alumni,even CEO’s slammed me on fb for writing this. I hope U watch my film #ShutUpSona to see what our reality as female artists in the 21rst century is. & Light pic.twitter.com/M1x5LCow6M — Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) July 5, 2022

Sona urged Agrawal to watch her film 'Shut Up Sona' to get a glimpse of what female artistes have to go through to get equal respect, representation, and remuneration.

The rest of my open letter. (P.S the IIT students descended on my viral letter incidentally, included both boys & girls, the latter were particularly vicious & hurtful in their comments. The minions of patriarchy continue to serve in different domains sadly) pic.twitter.com/vEYBArgDnR

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) July 5, 2022

She added: "I hope U watch my film #ShutUpSona to see what our reality as female artists in the 21st century is. Love & Light." She also attached screenshots of her viral open letter on Facebook.

The tweet serves as a reminder to what even the most successful women have to face when they come up against systemic sexism.

'Shut Up Sona' is streaming on Zee5 and Zee 5 Global.