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It’s time Bollywood sang to a new tune. Munni badnaam hui may have been a chartbuster with hundreds dancing to its beat, but how many actually gave the lyrics any thought?
Love Matters India, a website on relationships for young adults, is starting a campaign #NotMusicToMyEars to draw attention to offensive and sexist lyrics that encourage and trigger sexual harassment and gender violence.
Vithika Yadav, Country Head, Love Matters, tells BusinessLine that the aim is to tell Bollywood the objectification and stereotyping of women is not right. “Should not the Censor Board be more worried about such songs rather than movies like Lipstick Under My Burkha ?” she asks. She is not associated with the movie, which has not got past the censor in India.
Love Matters is speaking to various influencers on social media, including actor Gul Panag and singer-songwriter Manasi Scott, to draw attention to the subject. She points to Brown Rang by singer Honey Singh where a line translates to ‘come be my whore’ (“ I don't like them anymore, bann mitran di whore ”) and a song from Phataa Poster Niklaa Hero where some of the lyrics of “ Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai” translate as “Don’t be shocked that you're being followed. And don't even try stopping me. I have a right over you.”
Other songs in the list include “ Badri k dulhaniya” (Badrinath ki Dulhaniya), “Aa Re Pritam Pyaare” (Rowdy Rathore), “Fevicol Se” (Dabanng 2), “Aao Raja” (Gabbar is Back), “Chammak Challo” (Ra.One) and “ Gandi Baat” (R Rajkumar).
In fact, these are some of the songs with five-star ratings on music streaming app Saavn. Love Matters’ strategy has been to launch a playlist of these songs on the same app, issuing messages between the song saying the lyrics are derogatory of women’s rights and bodies.
Yadav says, “It is very important to raise a voice on such songs as they do not fulfil any substantial goals, but lead to further stereotyping.” Customer engagement agency Ogilvy One is helping Love Matters with this campaign.
Further action in this campaign will involve asking the public to send in their suggestions to reword the song. On March 29, Wednesday, the plan is to have social media users, including prominent citizens and influencers, to voice their feelings using #NotMusicToMyEars at noon so that the campaign gets a big boost and gathers momentum.
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