Chennai Concert: A R Rahman Expresses Disappointment, Takes Responsibility For Chaos

Music composer and singer A R Rahman who performed at Marakkuma Nenjam concert in Chennai on Sunday, September 10, expressed his disappointment over the sudden chaos that took place at the concert due to lack of management.

Rahman in a brief conversation with 'The Hindu' asserted that he was extremely happy to see the overwhelming response of the fans and their immense amount of love and affection. However, things took a bad turn when some people could not enjoy the concert in spite of having tickets due to safety measures and lack of proper arrangements.

He said that he was performing at the event without knowing the situation outside the venue. But later he was annoyed to hear that many people failed to attend the concert in spite of having tickets.

According to him, safety was the biggest concern as the audience was in huge number including women and kids. Rahman said that the concert was also rescheduled from August to September owing to weather conditions with proper guidance from the authorities.

"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," Rahman was quoted saying to 'The Hindu'.

Despite 'Marakkuma Nenjam' being one of India's highest selling shows till date, fans were extremely disappointed to miss the concert of their favourite personality due to lack of proper arrangements.

He assured the fans to resolve the issue with a post on platform X, formerly Twitter. "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 (as soon as possible)."

Further explaining over the massacre that took place at the concert, Rahman said, "This was like a cyclone we did not plan for. We did 20 concerts in the U.S. last year, and everything was smooth and trouble free because we trusted the system there."

"Marakkuma Nenjam is India's highest-sold show till 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," he told 'The Hindu'.

Marakkuma Nenjam witnessed a huge crowd of over 45000 people to attend the world class singer and music composer A R Rahman's live concert in Chennai.