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- Published: February 20, 2023 12:59
New Delhi: Singer Arijit Singh, for the first time, opened up about the ‘Gerua’ controversy and his concert allegedly being cancelled. He performed at a concert in Kolkata on February 18 and said that there is ‘so much controversy on a colour’. The row began when the singer sang his song ‘Gerua’ at Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) 2022 and news of his concert getting cancelled emerged.
What is the ‘Gerua’ row?
Arijit sang ‘Gerua’ at KIFF 2022 in West Bengal’s CM Mamata Banerjee’s presence and news of his Kolkata concert being cancelled emerged days after. This led to a tussle between TMC and BJP in the state as the opposition party alleged that the CM was offended by the song and thus cancelled his concert.
Arijit Singh sings #Gerua ? & see the reaction of #ShahRukhKhan? ?@iamsrk at #KIFF #KIFF2022 pic.twitter.com/z60diE5OtL
— ♡♔SRKCFC♔♡™ (@SRKCHENNAIFC) December 15, 2022
Meanwhile, West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim cleared that permission for the concert was not granted due to a G-20 event scheduled in the same area.
Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherji, and other celebs were also present at KIFF when the event also became a stage for indirect commentary on the boycott trend and freedom of expression.
The colour has also been in the news for the row over Deepika Padukone’s ‘gerua/bhagwa’ bikini, which also became a reason for the boycott trend for Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Pathaan’.
What did Arijit Singh say?
Arijit Singh performed almost 4 hrs in #Kolkata . He sang #RangDeTuMoheGerua and stated “ Now people will discuss something on this song but saffron is colour which Sanyasis ( Saints ) wear . He sang same song in film festival and lot of stories came up thereafter . pic.twitter.com/1A9cHR0Etb
— Kamalika Sengupta (@KamalikaSengupt) February 18, 2023
Talking about the controversy at his concert, Arijit said, “So much controversy over a colour.” He added that saffron has been a colour for ‘sanyasis’ (Hindu sages) and of Swami Vivekanand, and questioned whether he had worn white, would there be controversy on it too?