Sonu Nigam Azaan Controversy

About a week ago, there was this wave of nationalism due to the Snapchat "poorcountry" remark. And the hatchet wasn’t buried yet there was another fight to be fought. Yes, we found ourselves in between of some eyebrow-raising controversy.

And this time, it was about a someone influential apparently hurting a particular religion's statement. It was maybe just his opinion and what people did was to twist his statement and then get offended by him, as we Indians are so good at taking offences that if were a sport, then we could be damn sure, Ki Olympics mein gold to apne le hi aayenge. (we'll be easily fetching some gold medals in Olympics)

Sonu Nigam, quite a big shot in Bollywood and also a prominent name in playback singing, apparently received a lot of attention for something he would be proud of. On 17th of April, 2017, he was woken up by the morning Azaan (the Islamic call for prayer) from a mosque which is about 500 m away from his house.

God bless everyone. I'm not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the Azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India

— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 16, 2017

The singer seems to so displeased by this, that he termed it as, "forced religiousness". He then went on a Twitter rant as he put out a series of tweets on this subject and even questioned, "Why do I have this cacophony after Edison?"

In no time, the singer faced backlash on social media as his statements were perceived as insensitive towards Muslims.

Azaan should be stopped in India, where millions of Muslims live, because desh ka laadla Sonu Nigam can't sleep. Where is the tolerance? FO.

— Sheru. (@iamzaalima) April 17, 2017

He posted another tweet next day stating that he still stood by his remarks.

Dear everyone. Your stand exposes your own IQ. I stand by my statement that loudspeakers should not be allowed in Mosques & Temples. Period

— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 18, 2017

 But, there's a twist guys, just like Snapchat this story also got on humorous track, when people started to confusing Sonu Sood for Sonu Nigam and the result where just... ridiculous. People keep tweeting him and trolling him. Thank God Sonu Sood isn't an app otherwise who knows people would have just uninstall him!

Funnily enough, this major confusion comes at a time when Twitterati had recently abused an online shopping app instead of the CEO of Snapchat. From AIB (All India Bakchod) Tanmay Bhat, to  normal Twitter users, everyone had a hearty time laughing at this major goof up.

Can't wait for us to outrage at Sonu Sood for his religious comments

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) April 17, 2017

.@SonuSood nice haircut da

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) April 19, 2017

So, by this point, the whole Bollywood fraternity was clearly divides into two part, pretty much like Captain America: Civil War.

There were clearly some who didn't see that coming!

Shaan, another singer who comes in support of Sonu said, "People should be considerate towards each other. Be it Azaan or Hanuman Chalisa jaap or for any other religious practice, one must understand that noise pollution must be curtailed. Everyone has the right to enjoy their festivals and practice their religion but not at the cost of disturbing others.” and so does Sona Mohapatra, Manmeet of Meet Bros duo, Kailash Kher. And there were some who oppose it like Baba Sehgal, Hard Kaur, Rahul Ram. Also, there were some who just kept their distance from it, like Anupam Kher and Mahesh Bhatt.

And if this matter has already taken the Bollywood, then how can we refrain ourselves from the King Khan itself, Shah Rukh Khan. Well, he didn't say anything about this but there's something worth mentioning here.

As Shah Rukh Khan tweeted during the recent Holi celebrations, "My beautiful neighbors have been dancing to loud music since noon. So, happy instead of working I am humming I’m in love with the shape of you." That's how we celebrate the spirit of our Indianness.

So, where do we draw the line? That is a thought to ponder, for all of us. Whatever be Sonu Nigam's intentions, maybe we could use this opportunity to make our country a more peaceful haven for all citizens or we could go on carrying forward the same catch 22 situations ahead.