Chennai: Organisers of music maestro A.R. Rahman’s ‘Marakkuma Nenjam’ concert, held in Chennai Sunday, have issued an unconditional apology for its poor set-up, overcrowding and “bad experiences” of attendees, which has resulted in the event being in the spotlight for the wrong reasons since the weekend.
Hemanth Raja, CEO of organiser ACTC Events, in a video message posted on social media Wednesday, said: “Our effort was to guarantee an unforgettable night of Rahman sir’s songs for his fans. But, due to some unforeseen circumstances, there has been overcrowding and many have not been able to access the venue, and have had some bad experiences.”
He added: “We accept full responsibility for this and we are accountable for what happened.”
we are with you.https://t.co/LxqMzqj9WH
— ACTC Events (@actcevents) September 12, 2023
Raja cited “duplication of tickets” as one of the reasons behind overcrowding at the venue and claimed the organisers had obtained all necessary approvals from the authorities for the event.
The concert was held at Adityaram Palace in Chennai’s Panayur on the East Coast Road, after being rescheduled from 12 August owing to rains in the city.
Rahman fans who attended the concert told ThePrint that the event was a nightmare as it was “overcrowded”, “suffocating” and saw a “stampede-like” situation. They also made allegations of women being molested and a child getting lost.
Speaking to ThePrint, Charulatha Rangarajan, an independent filmmaker from the city, said: “I had reached the venue by 4.30 pm and had managed to get a seat, but as time passed, it was seen that there were twice the number of people compared to the seats in the section.”
She added: “With time, more and more people started entering into the zone, filling it to five times its capacity.”
Rangarajan further alleged that she was groped multiple times at the venue.
Close to 10 other women who attended the event told ThePrint later that they felt “unsafe”, “anxious”, “panicky” and “claustrophobic” at the venue.
Many of those who had purchased tickets have claimed that were unable to enter the venue despite reaching well in advance, while some said they were stuck in traffic on the main roads for lack of parking facilities.
One such attendee, in a post on the social media platform X (previously Twitter), said, “AR Rahman’s concert tonight was the most traumatic event I’ve ever been to. THOUSANDS of people WITH tickets were being sent out, not allowed to enter because thousands of TICKETS WERE OVERSOLD. There was nobody to direct anyone, the ticket booth was abandoned (sic).”
#ARRahman
AR Rahman's concert tonight was the most traumatic event I've ever been to.THOUSANDS of people WITH tickets were being sent out, not allowed to enter because thousands of TICKETS WERE OVERSOLD. There was nobody to direct anyone,the ticket booth was abandoned. pic.twitter.com/dgZ9mmiCbt— Kamya Menon (@water_menon) September 10, 2023
Soon after the concert made news for all the wrong reasons, Oscar-winning musician Rahman was quoted in the media as saying that he was disturbed and felt accountable for what had happened during the show.
In a social media post Monday, he shared an email address, asking people who had purchased tickets but were unable to enter the venue, to share a copy of their tickets.
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 arr4chennai@btos.in along with your grievances. Our team will respond asap🙏@BToSproductions @actcevents
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) September 11, 2023
ThePrint has reached Tambaram Police commissioner A. Amalraj, who is conducting an inquiry into the management of the event — including reasons for overcrowding and the lack of facilities provided by the organisers, such as healthcare and parking space — over phone and WhatsApp for comment on the matter. The report will be updated when a response is received.
Also Read: Shades of grey in Modi-Shah politics—from Chandigarh to Chennai and Mumbai to Puri
‘Does the heart ever forget’
Tickets for ‘Marakkuma Nenjam’, which means “Does the heart ever forget” in Tamil, were categorised into general pass (priced at Rs. 500), silver pass (priced at Rs. 1,000), gold pass (priced at Rs. 2,000), diamond pass (priced at Rs. 5,000), platinum pass (priced at Rs. 10,000), VIP tickets (priced at Rs. 25,000), and premium lounge pass (priced at Rs. 50,000).
According to Rangarajan, who was in the diamond section seating area, the concert started around 7 p.m. but the crowd continued to swell in her section.
Other Rahman fans who attended the event told ThePrint that people were not properly directed to the prescribed entrance for each zone, which led to chaos and fights within zones, as those with the higher-priced passes demanded space within their allotted zones.
People were also hurling abuses, throwing bottles and even stones to make the crowd move, they alleged.
“While fans tend to cheer for the musician during live concerts, at Sunday’s event the cry from the crowd was not for Rahman. People were screaming slogans like ‘down, down ACTC’, ‘volume, volume’, ‘please sit down’ and ‘please move’,” Rangarajan claimed.
She added: “They announced a missing child and in another two minutes, the show continued. There was no humanity or concern.”
“When I tried to exit, one of the people whom I had addressed as ‘brother’ groped me when I just asked him for the way out,” Rangarajan alleged.
Police sources told ThePrint that the organisers had informed them that 25,000 people were expected for the concert and permission for the same was given.
But the CEO of ACTC Events was quoted by Thanthi TV, a Tamil channel based in Chennai, Tuesday, as saying that the organisers had sold 36,000 tickets and another 4,000 had been given as gifts — adding up to 40,000 tickets.
Talking about the chaos at the venue, a 32-year-old with passes to the platinum zone, told ThePrint on condition of anonymity, “First there was no parking allotted and we had to walk close to 2 kms and when we reached the entry point there was no one to guide us properly to our respective gate.”
She alleged: “There was a heavy crowd but there was no one from the administration to handle the chaos outside. Some of the volunteers were being extremely abusive to us.”
According to some users on social networking site X, Rahman and his team have stated in reply to grievances shared by attendees that they are “in the process of reimbursing the amount you spent and has also prepared a surprise for you, which you can prepare to receive very shortly”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Chennai to Bengaluru in 30 mins? This could be reality in 10 yrs with IIT Madras’s ‘hyperloop rail’