In 2015, actress and musician Monica Dogra sent out a message trying to crowdsource a project that was “for legislators all over the world to decriminalise all consensual acts of sex regardless of gender identification”. Dogra asked for Rs 50 lakhs to make a “high art” music video that she hoped would achieve this goal. It wasn’t long before Dogra ran into a storm of criticism. The very people she sought to help noted that the musician did not have an real engagement with the issues the LGBTQ community faced and few felt a music video could effect any real change in India’s homophobic legal system.
In September, Dogra released the music video Shiver, which was the culmination of the project. Outwardly, the song is said to be about a great number of things: inclusion, free love, but all of it doesn’t add up to much. The music video, inspired by the music of Australian singer-songwriter Sia, is instantly forgettable, while the lyrics recited with a lot of heft do not approach the subject matter with any kind of depth.
Over the past weekend, Dogra released her latest project – a collaboration with actress-musician Anushka Machanda and for DJ Nanok’s forthcoming album titled Lay You Down. The video features the performers in various states of embrace and undress and is gaining popularity on the internet not for the message behind it but for its risque, NFSW quality.
While few realistic depictions of same-sex love exist in Indian pop culture, there is a great number of sensitively made videos on the internet. When placed next to those, Dogra’s tune seems to be another attempt to capitalise on a sensitive issue without according it the seriousness and insight that it deserves.
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