While the number of women working off the camera on a film set has increased marginally, the music industry still continues to have a skewed gender ratio. Jasleen Royal, who has composed songs like Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (Baar Baar Dekho; 2016) and Din Shagna Da (Phillauri: 2017), believes that the number of mainstream female music directors is lower, compared to their male counterparts.

“History tells us that women began voting much later. Women still need to fight their families to step out for work. There is a deep conditioning, and changing the structure will take a while. We will achieve gender equality when biases can be eradicated from the ground level,” says the singer.

However, Royal is hopeful that the future seems bright. “The change is happening slowly. Today, we have female music composers such as Parampara Thakur and Sneha Khanwalkar. When we have women like them to look up to, more girls will be inspired to pursue their dreams,” she shares.

Another concern that she has been vocal about is her songs being dropped from films at the last minute. She cites the example of Ranjha from Shershaah, which she had composed for another film. “I won’t ever hold it against the people who drop my songs. I’m just happy making music and I know it will eventually find its place,” says the Love You Zindagi (Dear Zindagi; 2016) singer, adding, “This has happened to me a lot of times. So, I understand the drill now. If a song gets dropped, that doesn’t mean I did a bad job. Everyone doesn’t understand every song.”