Sensuous, not obscene: Singer Ila Arun on the ‘Choli Ke Peechhey’ controversy

The song was recorded and released before the movie came out and had already made waves by the time Khal Nayak hit the movie halls. I was suddenly catapulted to fame or infamy, depending which side you were on; there were several discussions on the song, people calling out for my blood, court cases being filed against me in remote towns of India, accusing me of obscenity; the police from the Santa Cruz station arrived at my doorstep one morning, saying I had not responded to a summons sent to me, a word that I had never heard before! My family members thought I was compromising my sense of propriety to make a break in films. I turned a deaf ear to all these snide remarks.

1993, the year when well and truly, my mother’s clapperboard came down on me or rather should I say crashed over my head! My reputation and propriety literally ‘went for a song’, an innocent song, ‘Choli Ke Peechhey’, which was now heard everywhere, from loudspeakers for weddings, on every music channel, and sung by every Romeo on the street. And it was in my voice!

My mother shook her head in dismay, reminding me again and again of her constant...

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