Mumbai, October 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Singer Sona Mohapatra has questioned the professional accountability of performers amid the controversy surrounding Daler Mehndi’s performance in Uttarakhand, arguing that while veteran artists deserve dignity and compassion, audiences are equally entitled to respect.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Mohapatra recounted her experience at the Sufi Heritage Festival held at Delhi’s Sunder Nursery in February 2026. She said she headlined the opening evening on February 28, while Mehndi was scheduled to perform as the closing act on March 1.
Mohapatra said she and her team decided to stay in Delhi for an additional night because they wanted to watch the veteran singer perform a Sufi-oriented set, as they had been told.
“What unfolded was heartbreaking,” she wrote, describing an experience in which Mehndi appeared disoriented, struggled to hold a note and repeatedly sang the same musical phrase.
She also criticised the overall production, saying audience members gradually began leaving the venue despite having paid for tickets and arrived with high expectations.
The singer said she felt particularly sorry for the organisers, who had invested resources, effort and their professional reputations in presenting an established artist. However, she clarified that she did not know whether Mehndi’s representatives, management or family were aware of any difficulties before the performance.
Mohapatra admitted that she and her team had remained silent at the time out of respect for the veteran singer. Reflecting on that decision, she questioned whether such silence had helped anyone or allowed a situation deserving scrutiny to go unchallenged.
She also made it clear that she had no knowledge of Mehndi’s personal circumstances or health and would not presume to diagnose what she had witnessed. Publicly humiliating an artist, she said, was not the answer.
Addressing the Uttarakhand controversy, Mohapatra argued that the debate had focused heavily on the indignity allegedly suffered by the singer, while giving comparatively little attention to audience expectations and the responsibilities of artists accepting substantial professional fees.
“A veteran deserves dignity, empathy and gratitude for a lifetime of contribution. And an audience deserves an honest performance, or at the very least, an honest acknowledgement when that is no longer possible,” she wrote.
She added that illness should be met with compassion and handled responsibly, but audiences and organisers should not repeatedly bear the consequences while those around an artist remain silent.
Mohapatra also questioned whether the manner in which the Uttarakhand minister raised objections should automatically invalidate the substance of the complaint, stressing that the two issues needed to be considered separately.
Concluding her post, the singer said professional respect must be mutual and that age, legacy and stature should not exempt performers from accountability.
“Respect is not a one-way entitlement. It is a relationship of reciprocity,” she wrote, adding that she shared her concerns with sadness rather than malice and with genuine respect for Mehndi’s contribution to music.
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