'Chal Chaiyya...': Pune police stop Rahman’s concert; video goes viral
While many have thought that something was wrong with the police after the video went viral, Pune Police issued a clarification and said the singer-music composer had exceeded the 10 PM deadline
By Bhavana Published on 2 May 2023 5:27 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Police stopped the concert of music composer AR Rahman in Pune on Sunday.
When the Oscar-winning composer was singing Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya, cops approached him and asked him to stop. A huge crowd had gathered to attend music maestro Rahman's live concert held at Raja Bahadur Mills in Pune.
Pune police said he has flouted the time limit. A video has now gone viral.
While many have thought that something was wrong with the police after the video went viral, Pune Police issued a clarification and said the singer-music composer had exceeded the 10 PM deadline.
On Monday AR Rahman tweeted pictures from the Pune concert and promised his fans that he'll be back soon. He said, "Pune! Thank you for all the love and euphoria last night! Was such a roller coaster concert! No wonder Pune is home to so much classical music! We shall be back soon to sing with you all again!!"
This is the second time Rahman is making headlines in a span of a week. The composer became part of a controversy after he asked his wife to speak Tamil and not Hindi at an award function.
"As the deadline of 10 pm had passed, we asked him (Rahman) and other artists to stop the show. They followed the instructions and stopped the show," said Bundgarden police station's inspector Santosh Patil, who was seen in the video asking Rahman and other artists playing music to stop by indicating at his watch.
An aide close to Rahman, however, said the police could have talked to the organisers instead of pointing fingers at Rahman, a Padma Bhushan awardee known world over for his music. "10pm was the curfew time but they've said it's the last song and only a minute left. The police official went to stage and asked ARR (Rahman) directly to stop, pointing finger at him. Police should have talked to the organisers or other control booth," the aide said.
Event organiser Dr Heramb Shelke said stopping the show in this manner was disrespectful to Rahman, a composer admired and appreciated the world over, and it could have been done in a "good and decent manner".
Inputs from PTI
