A new song titled Beyonce Sharma Jayegi from an upcoming Bollywood film Khaali Peeli starring Ishaan Katter and Ananya Panday did not go down well on social media, generating a huge backlash for its racist and sexist lyrics.
The song penned by Kumaar has the lyrics, “Oh tujhe dekh ke goriya, Beyonce sharma jayegi,” which translates to “after seeing you fair-skinned lady, Beyoncé will feel shy.”
The dance number was filmed for the upcoming film Khaali Peeli which will hit the screens on October 2, but the song was widely called out for its racially insensitive lyrics, with many questioning the misuse of the name of a global star like Beyonce.
Whilst the Black Lives Matter movement has set the stage for equality on a global scale, Bollywood has again been accused of feeding the bias against dark-complexioned people, and the tendency to glorify fair skin.
After the furore, the filmmaker from Beyonce to Beyonse, going on to drop the singing megastar's name entirely.
Khaali Peeli director Maqbool Khan has addressed the outrage caused by the song, offering an apology for causing offence adding that the lyrics of the song have now been changed from 'Beyonce Sharma Jayegi' to 'Duniya Sharma Jayegi ' (meaning, the world will feel shy).
By way of clarification Mr Khan , “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."
“The song wasn't meant to disrespect the icon," he said.
Lyricist Kumaar added further, “Goriya as a word 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."
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