News Tamil Nadu

No Proper Apology From AR Rahman, Gives Vague Response Amid Fans Lashing Out

September 11, 2023
The Commune

Amid severe backlash from fans and people around the state in Tamil Nadu, AR Rahman finally made a response pertaining to the 10 September 2023 incidents at the Marakkuma Nenjam concert near Chennai. 

The concert is aptly titled “Marakkuma Nenjam” – which roughly translates to Will the heart forget? After experiencing a nightmare, the attendees are sure to never forget their harrowing encounter. 

The event was originally scheduled for August but owing to the weather, it was postponed to September. The event took place at Adityaram Palace City in Paniyur near ECR. 

Thanks to blatant mismanagement, concert-goers endured a series of woeful incidents. These included being denied entry to the venue despite having valid tickets, losing track of their children, relatives, or friends in the crowded chaos, experiencing panic attacks, facing instances of groping and molestation, and feeling suffocated due to the lack of space. The already challenging situation was exacerbated by the traffic in Chennai, poor parking availability, and the fact that it was a Sunday evening. 

Vague Responses To The Incident

Rahman issued a vague statement on X on 11 September 2023, which did not come across as an apology or a show of empathy towards the fans regarding the events that transpired the previous evening. He did not mention anything about issuing a refund, he just posted, “Dearest Chennai Makkale, those of you who purchased tickets and weren’t able to enter owing to unfortunate circumstances, please do share a copy of your ticket purchase to [email protected] along with your grievances. Our team will respond asap”. 

Speaking to The Hindu about the issue, he said, “It was a tsunami of people and love that we were unable to handle, as a composer, my job was to give a terrific show, and I thought everything else would be taken care of. I was just thinking that it shouldn’t rain, and was happily performing inside, without any idea of what was happening outside. Our intentions were good, but I think the response was beyond our expectations. We are collecting the data now, and we will surprise fans with something soon.”

“Right now, we are just terribly disturbed. Safety was the primary issue, especially because there were women and kids. I don’t want to point fingers at anyone, but we have to realise that the city is expanding, and the passion to consume music and art is also expanding.”

When asked about the poor crowd management and oversold tickets, he responds, “The organisers (ACTC events) had put together about 46,000 chairs in the venue. In some sections, everybody sat on one side and didn’t move to the other side. Seeing this, the policemen on duty assumed that the venue was full and closed it. By this time, the show had already started inside.”

“This was like a cyclone we did not plan for. We did 20 concerts in the US last year, and everything was smooth and trouble-free — because we trusted the system there. ‘Marakkuma Nenjam’ is India’s highest-sold show to date, which is great, but it is more important how we treat people than the actual concert itself. And that, I had little control over. I knew what all songs to pack in, which singers to rope in, and what musical surprises to give fans, but going forward, artistes have to take leadership on measuring contractually what goes into these arrangements.”

Where Is The Apology?

Rahman has hosted several concerts worldwide as well as in India, however, Sunday evening’s turn of events left a dreadfully bitter taste in their mouths. He, however, did not even apologise to his fans for going through what they did, he replied to this with something vague – “For global experiences, we need to have an international setup. This is a lesson for me. It pushes me to go beyond being a musician and get involved in infrastructure as well. I’ve been to many arts collective in the world, and when I see those, I think: why deny this experience to our own people right here in Chennai? They deserve that, and more. What it takes is what we discovered during this concert.”

Calls It A Success Despite The Severe Inconvenience Caused

According to Rahman, ‘Marakkuma Nenjam’ which featured a repertoire of hits from the past three decades for the audience is a ‘90% success and a 10% loss’, with hits spanning 30 years being dished out for the audience. “Thousands of people inside were happily listening to the concert,” he says, “The energy and love in Chennai is overwhelming; sometimes when you love something too much, it goes away from you. I think that’s what has happened here. I am ambitious about making Chennai an arts capital, but with respect to what happened, I do not want to point fingers at anyone because I know people come to concerts for me, and not for who the organisers are.” “We will face this and fix it because every soul is important to me. I told my son (AR Ameen) this: anything that we do in partnership, people do not look at the partnership, they look at us. The partnerships might disappear, but we will remain. I now have to think beyond just the musical aspects of a concert. We will, hopefully, not let this happen ever again.”

Coimbatore Event

It seems that what happened in Payinur was not the first time it happened – this occurred to a similar extent at the concert held in Coimbatore as well. Poor management and seat allocation by the organisers resulted in the attendees breaking the barricades and indulging in arguments with the bouncers. Videos capturing this disruptive scene had become viral.

Numerous users on social media, particularly X, expressed their dissatisfaction with AR Rahman and his team, citing what they perceived as inadequate event planning and organisation. Reports indicate that there were issues such as insufficient management, and even attendees who had purchased Rs 5000 tickets for the live concert encountered problems, including a shortage of available chairs.

The event organisers also did not offer any apology for the gross mismanagement and subsequent events nor did they mention anything about a refund. They posted,

Neither did he apologise in apt language for what happened at the Coimbatore event nor did he say anything similar for the Chennai event. Will AR Rahman ever apologise to all those fans who have been traumatised by what happened on 10 September 2023?