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Sona Mohapatra backed Tanushree Dutta after her remarks on Nana Patekar’s death, slamming trolls and questioning why society associates death with sainthood.
Nana Patekar passed away on October 8.
Nana Patekar passed away on October 8 at the age of 75. Following his death, Tanushree Dutta gave a not-so-polite reaction, inviting trolling against her. Now, Sona Mohapatra, an Indian singer, music composer and lyricist, has come out in support of Dutta and slammed trolls for questioning her statements, given everything she has gone through in her life.
Tanushree Dutta had accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement. Now, backing Dutta’s recent remark calling Nana Patekar’s death ‘evil dead’, Sona said in a video, “Nana Patekar passed away yesterday. A celebrated actor, people are mourning him, and understandably so, and I have no issues with that. But what’s disturbing me is the way people are attacking Tanushree Dutta. Seriously, what do you expect from her? This woman spoke up about her sexual harassment on sets with this gentleman, fought an exhausting battle, faced public humiliation and professional consequences, and now she is expected to perform grief for you?”
Sharing that she witnessed the country’s #MeToo movement, Mohapatra added, “I was among the working artists at that point in time during India’s #MeToo movement. I was removed from a national television reality show because other working women really did not want to have any skin in the game. Nobody wants to take a chance.
“I know what speaking up costs a woman, and people ask, ‘Why didn’t you go to court? Where is the proof?’ Do women go to work wearing hidden cameras? Does harassment conveniently happen in front of witnesses?”
Continuing, she slammed people for making someone a saint just because he is no longer alive. The singer added, “#MeToo happened because power, fear and retaliation made speaking up so difficult. And India, why do we associate old age with virtue and death with sainthood? Dying shouldn’t erase uncomfortable chapters of someone’s life. You can mourn his passing, but you cannot demand that a woman rewrite her own history to make your mourning comfortable.”
Further supporting Tanushree’s words, she concluded, “Tanushree Dutta is entitled to her account of what happened, and if your compassion requires humiliating a woman who spoke up, perhaps it’s not compassion. It’s hypocrisy.”
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Ask News18Sona Mohapatra defended Tanushree Dutta after Dutta faced heavy online trolling and public backlash for her comments following Nana Patekar’s death on October 8, 2026, pointing out the severe personal and professional toll Dutta suffered after speaking up during India’s #MeToo movement.
Ask News18October 09, 2026, 17:35 IST