I'm not anti-sexy: Sofia Ashraf

Sofia Ashraf has never shied away from expressing her opinion on social issues. She has done it again with her music video, I Can't Do Sexy. The video is a hilariously self-deprecating song where she wholeheartedly and flat-chestedly accepts that she can do a lot of things, but “doing sexy“ is not one on that list. Is this branching out of a personal experience? “I don't think anybody has ever called me unsexy .In fact, my friends are always telling me how sexy I am. This song isn't about my insecurities. It is a comical selfdeprecatory piece born after years of failed attempts at selfies. The sari line in the song, though, was born from a real incident. I was volunteering at a village and made great friends with a gaggle of lovely girls. One day they said, `Akka, you always wear jeans.Could you wear a sari? We want to see what you look like in one.' I happened to have a sari in my bag, so I went out and draped it and came back excited to show the girls my transformation.They stared at me in silence for a bit and then one girl said, `Akka, you look nice in jeans'.“
The video has some quirky visuals and about 30 selfies of Sofia. The cinematographer, Viki, and Sofia had a blast shooting the video over a span of three days with a group of friends.And when you are watching the video, don't miss the choreography . “I spent nearly an entire day coming up with that step. It was my unsexy interpretation of a twerk. The music was composed by the amazing Prashant Techno. I'd been sitting on this song for nearly a year and all I had was the funny song hook in my head. I sang it to Prashant and he made one of the best ear worms I've ever heard. I took 30 selfies for the video at the behest of my extremely patient and multi-talented director -Akbar Bash. That was the most selfies I've taken since I bought my phone,“ laughs Sofia.
So are you propagating anti-sexy through this video? “I'm not anti-sexy .I have a lot of sexy friends who I love, respect and even idolise. I don't think owning your sexuality is a bad thing.Saying I can't do sexy is like saying I can't do math. That doesn't mean I'm anti-calculus,“ she quips.
She explains that she doesn't intend to change the attitude of women who believe in looking good because “I believe if it makes them happy , they should indulge themselves“. “What I do hope to change is the pressure on the rest of us to force ourselves into a mould. It's about owning your identity and being comfortable with your body . Most women we see on mainstream media are extremely sexy and I feel the younger generation isn't seeing enough influencers coming out and saying that a flip side exists. I hope this song tells young girls out there that they aren't alone and that it's cool to be themselves,“ adds Sofia, who takes inspiration from strong female musicians like Pink, Lauryn Hill and Alanis Morissette. “When I was growing up, I was told that we don't need to fit into conventional ideas of sexiness. This language of body-positivity went a long way in shaping my identity ,“ signs off the singer.