Sona Mohapatra Slams Sony For Reinstating Anu Malik On Indian Idol Despite #MeToo Allegations

After singers Neha Bhasin & Shweta Pandit stepped forward about Anu Malik's alleged misconduct, Sona Mohapatra expressed disbelief at Sony's decision.

By: Entertainment Desk |
October 31, 2019 6:15 pm

Sona Mohapatra is breathing fire in one of her recent posts on social media. In a long-ish note addressed to Sony TV (the channel that airs Indian Idol), Mohapatra has revived the allegations levelled against Anu Malik in the wake of #MeToo movement. Naming singers Neha Bhasin & Shweta Pandit who stepped forward alleging Malik’s misconduct, Mohapatra expressed her disbelief that he had been reinstated as a judge on the latest season of Indian Idol.

Sona Mohapatra wasn’t in a mood to spare anyone, as she took on both Sonu Nigam and Vishal Dadlani for quietly endorsing their ‘brotherhood’. She responded to something Nigam apparently said about Malik, where he condoned the music composer’s actions because he has ‘daughters, sisters at home’. She called out his sexism for asking Ram Sampath (Sona Mohapatra’s husband) to ‘keep her in check’ and apparently labelled her a ‘terrorist’.

I fleed lying my mums waiting below. He even msgd and called me after that to which i stopped responding. The point is i went to give him my cd and hope for a chance at a song. He was older and shouldnt have behaved the way he did. @The_AnuMalik is an ugly pervert and does not https://t.co/tQgStLrYyT

— Neha Bhasin (@nehabhasin4u) October 30, 2019

Mohapatra also called out Vishal Dadlani, a fellow judge on Indian Idol. Dadlani, a keen supporter of Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP and very vocal about political and environmental issues, has always maintained a very level-headed presence on social media. Mohapatra asked Dadlani to boycott the show and the ‘few extra millions’ he was making because of it.

Read the full post here:

The #MeToo movement took flight in India in October 2018, after Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct. The allegations caught fire very soon as many celebrities including Alok Nath, Vikas Bahl, Rajkumar Hirani were accused of inappropriate behaviour at the workplace. The allegations against Anu Malik were levelled around the same time, and that’s when Sony TV had chosen to remove him from the panel of judges. Cut to a year and a few months later, nearly all the accused have more-or-less resumed work.