Beyoncé trouble in Bollywood
Recently, Khaali Peeli released its song titled Beyoncé Sharma jayegi, featuring lead stars Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday. Composed by Vishal and Shekhar and penned by Kumaar and Raj Shekhar, the dance number received many views and much appreciation.
However, opinions were divided and a few social media users objected to the word goriya in the song. The Khaali Peeli director Maqbool Khan finally issued a statement about using the word.
His statement reads, “First, without any hesitation or excuses we want to apologise to anyone offended. We assure you that the lyric in question was never intended racially. In fact, the term goriya has been so often and traditionally used in Indian songs to address a girl, that it didn’t occur to any of us to interpret it in the literal manner. Also the comparison with Beyonce is simply meant to be a street-smart guy flattering a girl who is trying to impress that her dancing/performance is worth comparing to even Beyonce who we all see as the final word, the epitome of talent, beauty, performance, style and attitude. We are all huge fans, and there was never any question of disrespect (sic).”
The song’s lyricist also shared similar thoughts. “Goriya is a word that has been used in many Hindi songs earlier. Our idea was to simply use a synonym to ‘girl’. There is no derogation intended — we revere the beauty of global celebrity Beyoncé and don’t mean to hurt any of her fans (sic).”