Sona Mohapatra

Biography

Sona Mohapatra is an Indian singer, music composer and lyricist. In addition to her own material, Mohapatra has recorded remixes of songs by David Bowie, with "Let's Dance", and INXS, with "Afterglow", with the latter proving particularly successful.

Background

Sona is from Odisha, born in an Odia family. She did B.Tech. engineering graduate from the Odisha University of Technology and Research in Mechanical Engineering. She also obtained an MBA degree from Symbiosis Centre for Management & HRD, Pune in marketing and Systems.

Career

Her first ventures in the music industry started with advertising. One of her most famous jingles was for Tata Salt, "Kal Ka Bharat Hai" and the campaign for Unilever's Close Up has a section of her song "Paas Aao Na," which has been recorded in several languages and aired across 13 countries for four consecutive years. In 2006, she released her debut album, Sona, on Sony BMG, which sought to explore the diverse styles of rock, rhythm and blues, Flamenco, Hindustani, Baul and Romani music. In 2009, she released the single Diljale & Paas Aao Na in the same year. She sang the song "Bedardi Raja" in the movie Delhi Belly for Aamir Khan Productions and did a cameo in it. She has also sung the theme songs "Mujhe Kya Bechega Rupaiya" and "Ghar Yaad Aata Hai Mujhe" for the TV show Satyamev Jayate.
Sona Mohapatra came to mainstream prominence with the talk show Satyamev Jayate with Aamir Khan, in which she frequently appeared as a lead singer and performer. She was also the executive producer of the musical project on the same show. Her cameo performances recorded more than 9 million views across sites as per the latest digital count. She confessed in a 2012 interview that the project was all consuming in terms of the emotional and physical energies invested. It involved multiple lyricists, unconventional subjects, and lots of brainstorming on the songs, lyrics, shoots and recordings. To top it all, all songs were translated and recorded in multiple languages. According to Sona, "Odia influences in Bollywood are rare as yet – unlike an overdose of Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bengali and even Southern music". The song "Mujhe Kya Bechega Rupaiya," sung by Mohapatra, was composed by Ram Sampath and was aired on the third episode of Satyamev Jayate, based on celebrating women's freedom. The song has received over 26 million hits on T-Series' YouTube channel.

Personal life

Mohapatra is married to Ram Sampath, a song composer and music director in Bollywood. She first met him in 2002, while she was still working as a brand manager with Marico. They were introduced by director Ram Madhvani, with whom Sampath was working for Let's Talk (2002); they married in 2005. Ram later became a household name for his innovative score of the film Delhi Belly (2011), followed by Satyamev Jayate (2012) and Talaash (2012). She is partners with Sampath in their music production house OmGrown Music and reside in Mumbai, where they also have their own studios.

Controversies

In October 2018, she accused Kailash Kher and Anu Malik of sexual misconduct. In 2019, Mohapatra received a death threat after she lashed out at Salman Khan for constantly taking digs at Priyanka Chopra for leaving Bharat.

Documentary

Mohapatra released a documentary film based on her life called Shut Up Sona which won multiple awards at different film festivals.

TV

Satyamev Jayate – Mujhe Kya Bechega Rupaiya, Ghar Yaad Aata Hai Mujhe, Chanda Pe Dance, and Bekhauff

Studio album

Sona (Songs – Bolo Na, Aja Ve, Tere Ishq Nachaya, Abhi Nahin Ana)

Compilation

Love is (2007) – Afterglow
Teri Deewani – Ishq Nachaya
Aao Ji – Aja Ve
Soulful Sufi (2009) – Abhi Nahin Anaa

Non-film songs

"Mon Ke Bojhai" with Sahil Solanki
"Ghane Badra"
"Aigiri Nandini"
"Piya Se Naina"
"Anhad Naad"
"Piya Se Naina" on Coke Studio Season 3
"Rangabati" on Coke Studio (India), 2015