Defining a woman’s beauty has never been a problem all these years: DSP on Oo Antava row

The sound track of actor Allu Arjun-starrer, Pushpa: The Rise (2021), has garnered a lot of attention with the song Oo Antava being one of them. While the song featuring actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu has emerged as a chartbuster across five languages, a few have slammed the dance number for being outright misogynistic and sleazy.

Talking to us, music composer, Devi Sri Prasad, popularly known as DSP, says, “With Oo Antava, we aren’t demeaning anyone. We’re simply describing certain men. Defining a woman’s body and beauty has never been a problem all these years. Some of the biggest music directors have composed such songs.” He adds that they have received the most amount of appreciation from women and that it’s more of “a social message song rather than an item number”.

Known for his dance numbers such as Ringa Ringa (Arya 2; 2009) and Seeti Maar (DJ: Duvvada Jagannadham; 2017), among others, he asserts that he has always steered clear from lyrics with innuendos: “I’m very careful with the lyrics in all my dance songs. In fact, most of them are sung by kids. Dhinka Chika (Ready; 2011), for example. I always tell my directors and lyricists that there shouldn’t be anything derogatory in the words. But sometimes, the hidden grammar is unavoidable.”

For DSP, a song only makes the cut only once he makes his family listen to them at the dining table. “The moment I read the lyrics, I question if I’ll be able to play it before my mom and sister. I’ve often fought in situations where a song was likely to make women feel uncomfortable. When you’re brought up in a household with strong women around you, the way you look at women, in general, is very different. My director Sukumar and lyricist Chandrabose respect women a lot,” he ends.