Padutha Theeyaga row: Sunitha and show producer deny Pravasthi’s allegations
Hyderabad: A day after 19-year-old singer Pravasthi Aaradhya made explosive allegations against the Oscar-winning musician MM Keeravani and co-judges of Padutha Theeyaga, renowned playback singer Sunitha Upadrashta and Gnapika Entertainments producer Praveena Kadiyala have issued a strong rebuttal and clarified their stance.
Earlier, Pravasthi posted a video on Instagram in which she accused the judges and production team of Padutha Theeyaga Silver Jubilee Series of harassment, bias, and body shaming. She also alleged that singer Sunitha Upadrashta was biased against her.
Responding to Pravasthi’s allegations that the songs were being changed last minute to control some eliminations, Sunitha said as a contestant on the reality singing show, the young singer should know how the show is conducted.
She said the entertainment channels have some limitations in terms of music rights, so only songs with valid rights are allowed in the competition. She added that when the singer shared so much on social media, she should explain things in their entirety.
Recalling her struggling days, Sunitha said she sang at weddings, as did Anirudh, who is a top music director today. The playback singer said it was not right for Pravasthi to claim that some comments made on the show were directed at her.
“You said addressing your mother as ‘nuvvu’ (informal you) instead of ‘meeru’ (formal you) and it was disrespectful. But did it feel right when your mother spoke about me on elimination day?” Sunitha retorted.
Meanwhile, Gnapika Entertainments producer Praveena Kadiyala also released a video to clarify her position on Pravasthi’s accusations. In her video, Pravasthi had claimed that she was deliberately given songs she couldn’t sing and was bodyshamed while picking the costumes for her.
“The songs are chosen only from the list of songs for which the channel has rights. Each contestant is expected to pick six songs. Only after rehearsals and a final go-ahead from them does the shoot begin,” Praveena said.
She further said costumes are designed based on the song chosen by the singer not based on a person’s body. Pravasthi claimed that a costume designer told her ‘no dress suits your body.’ That is wrong. She should have raised the issue with me or the show director right then, Praveena added.
