Papon courted controversy when he kissed a minor girl on
camera during Holi celebrations of Voice India Kids - a show he was judging.
Soon, he had to step down as judge owing to the severe backlash. After 6 months
of the controversy, Papon is finally back with a new song.
The makers of III Smoking Barrels - the movie which is
being referred to as India's first truly multi-lingual film - have gone ahead
to release the first song from their film, and that has been sung and composed
by Papon. The song titled Yeh Tishnagi is a rock and contemporary Bollywood
style song. Check it out right here:
The track has been released in both Hindi and Assamese.
While the lyrics for the Hindi version have been penned by Vaibhav Modi, the
Assamese version titled Uttorbihin are by Rajdweep.
Talking about the song, writer-director Sanjib Dey says,
“Yeh Tishnagi is a very special song. We got Papon to sing the song
because he is not just an extremely talented singer but also because he
connects with the North East as much as the rest of the country. He brings a
certain rustic touch and range and has beautifully rendered his vocals to the
song. It was a great experience collaborating with him.”
About the song, singer Papon says, “It was an enriching
experience singing the same song in Hindi and Assamese. It is my earnest hope
that stories from the Northeast through song and film are enjoyed by the rest
of the country. I hope the audiences connect to both the versions and equally
love the song.”
Papon has been maintaining a low profile ever since the
kiss controversy. After the video of him kissing a minor girl went viral on
social media, people from all over started objecting to Papon.Fans boycotted
his songs, and he was even not allowed to perform at the Bihu festivities in
Assam, where he had been a regular performer over the years. Now, with this
song, he is trying to make a comeback to music and also to the hearts of his
lost fans.
III Smoking Barrels which has been shot on a grand visual
scale beautifully intertwines three issues that beset the Northeast India,
namely, children involved in armed conflicts, drug addiction and abuse which is
a big threat to Indian youth and animal poaching and the necessity of wild life
conservation with each of them exploring a different stage of human life.
Starring Indraneil Sengupta, Subrat Dutta, Shiny Gogoi,
Siddharth Boro, Mandakini Goswami and Amrita Chattopadhyay, III Smoking Barrels
releases on September 21.