Sonam Kapoor defends brief appearance in Coldplay video

The wonders of India and Mumbai are seen through the eyes of Chris Martin and Coldplay, while Beyoncé, not Sonam Kapoor or another Indian actress, is depicted as a blonde Bollywood screen queen and goddess.

A collaborative effort from the band and Beyonce, the video involves the pop singer portraying a Bollywood actress with a poster of her film Rani on the billboards. When I was in high school, I grew up [listening to] Oasis, Coldplay and U2. You don’t even know you’re working on a Beyonce video when you are working on a Beyonce video: “Her stylist worked with me and told me she was looking for Indian vibes, very regal and colourful. So when Chris Martin’s agent told my agent that they really like [me] and they want [me] to do a cameo, my agent was like: ‘it’s just three shots”. And, what’s causing most of a stir is Beyoncé in traditional Indian dress wearing elaborate dresses, jewelry and henna tattoos. So on my birthday, I get to take all my friends for a concert. “It came out maybe a few weeks after they filmed it back in November, so I’ve been waiting patiently!”

It all reminds me of a line from Edward Said’s Orientalism: “From the beginning of Western speculation about the orient, the one thing the orient could not do is represent itself”.

While she is overjoyed, her father didn’t quite understand what his daughter’s hype was all about, till she explained the gravity of it. “The lyrics included the phrase ‘Drinks on me, drinks on me.’ And we said to him, ‘You can’t say that”.

Sonam Kapoor is now in Dubai to promote her hijack drama, Neerja, releasing in the UAE on February 18.