Singer Sona Mohapatra feels there’s a “systemic issue” in our music industry to not allow original compositions. In a long Twitter thread on Thursday, Sona revealed how her and husband Ram Sampath’s production house, Om Grown Music had to face friction with other music labels because of the latter’s preference for “safe and known”.

It all started on Wednesday post the release of Roohi’s song “Nadiyon Paar”, which is a recreated version of singer Shamur’s popular 2008 track “Let The Music Play”. Sona lashed out at the makers of Roohi’s song saying that Bollywood disrespects original creators and doesn’t back new talent.

What about “Ambarsariya” – that too was an “inspired” song no?

— JKaps (@JKaps261) March 3, 2021

“The last decade has seen the worst of this state of fear & lack of faith in the creation of new Music in Bollywood. I laud the rare few exceptions who continue to believe in our unique legacy of cinematic musicals, where the language of music was so key in taking forward narratives,” a part of her tweet read.

Quit, said no to several film projects & decided to take a stand after years of friction with producers,labels. Hurt our production house @OmGrownMusic but I am proud. So many amazing dance tracks he created for the situation, after all he’d made Aisa Jadoo at 27 yrs but .. (3)

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) March 4, 2021

Someone else like Tanishq Bagchi to shove in a remix to your whole original soundtrack & BG score of 3 yrs. Reason we got the best of live musicians including master percussionist Taufiq Quereshi into the studios & created a whooper production for Laila, all at our cost. (4)

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) March 4, 2021

I have been an EP on all @OmGrownMusic projects for ads, TV & films for over 15 years & know the battle music creators face everyday. As a singer, despite the dwindling opportunities & easy wins of such choices, have taken the uphill climb of being choosy & showing integrity. (6)

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) March 4, 2021

Aar Ya Paar was recorded 17 years ago by the way. The recording was a nightmare with the recording engineers bursting into sniggers every-time I sang, I remember the words – ‘hijra ga rahi hai’ floating into the recording booth. A&R man, Atul Churamani ❤️d my voice & OK’d. (8)

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) March 4, 2021

Never tempted me to run around singing 100’s of these despite the opportunities after it became a big hit. In-fact dug in my heels & into my savings & produced my own album SONA. Spent all my own money, sold my Santro which was on an EMI & made every video w/o any help. 🤟🏾(9)

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) March 4, 2021

Soon enough, a Twitter user pointed out that her own song “Ambarsariya” from Fukrey (2013) was an “inspired” song. Replying to the particular tweet, Sona shared that this one was a Punjabi folk song, further revealing how she and her music composer husband Ram Sampath had to fight the labels for years.

Here’s what Sona Mohapatra’s thread on Twitter read:

“Yes it is a folk song from Punjab. U are missing the forest for the trees? This is not an individual problem. It is about a systemic issue of an industry only churning this & not allowing originals. In Rams case Laila in Raees was the last straw. He quit. Quit, said no to several film projects & decided to take a stand after years of friction with producers, labels. Hurt our production house @OmGrownMusic but I am proud. So many amazing dance tracks he created for the situation, after all he’d made Aisa Jadoo at 27 yrs but .. But after spending 3 years of your life & your whole teams effort on it when the whole system weighs down on you to scrap all those songs & go for the ‘safe’ & ‘known’, you might give in to pressure but it breaks your spirit. The threat they give is we will get someone else.. Someone else like Tanishq Bagchi to shove in a remix to your whole original soundtrack & BG score of 3 yrs. Reason we got the best of live musicians including master percussionist Taufiq Quereshi into the studios & created a whooper production for Laila, all at our cost. It was the last straw though. Broke our spirit & heart. Despite wonderful all original soundtracks like Delhi Belly, Talaash & many others if you are bullied like this, pointless sticking around. Think it’s easy to back out on a high? Had to be done; walk the talk. I have been an EP on all @OmGrownMusic projects for ads, TV & films for over 15 years & know the battle music creators face everyday. As a singer, despite the dwindling opportunities & easy wins of such choices, have taken the uphill climb of being choosy & showing integrity. At the start of my career, had finally gotten a chance to sing in the studio with a remix of Aar Ya Paar, a big hit on release. Let the dancer Deepal Shaw take all the credit, PR/press. I was just a cog in the system. The call out is to change the system. Not blame individuals. Aar Ya Paar was recorded 17 years ago by the way. The recording was a nightmare with the recording engineers bursting into sniggers every-time I sang, I remember the words – ‘hijra ga rahi hai’ floating into the recording booth. A&R man, Atul Churamani loved my voice & OK’d. Never tempted me to run around singing 100’s of these despite the opportunities after it became a big hit. In-fact dug in my heels & into my savings & produced my own album SONA. Spent all my own money, sold my Santro which was on an EMI & made every video w/o any help.”

Roohi stars Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma. The original song “Nadiyon Paar” has been composed by Emanuele Marascia, Alessandro Murru, while its recreated version is credited to Sachin-Jigar. The original vocals by Shamur are joined by Jigar Saraiya, IP Singh and Rashmeet Kaur in “Nadiyon Paar”. The additional lyrics have been written by IP Singh and Jigar Saraiya.