I paid 2000 Rs of my hard earned money to watch this show. I am huge AR Rahman fan and have seen two more of his live shows. I am used to the substandard level of service that is offered in India. Any kind of service. We don't have proper facilities anywhere in this country to hold an event together for any number more than twenty thousand people. For example Internation Cricket matches played in India. Have you been to any? No stadium in India can boast of a descent parking facility for ten thousand cars(now if you have a stadium for 50K people you would need it right?). TO be able to park conviniently and to take it of and leave easily itself is not possible. Let alone expect reserved seating, hygienic and versatile top of the line snacks and toilet facilities. All this for the richest cricketing body in the world.
Now coming back to the AR Rahman show, the organisers are purely cashing in on AR Rahman's market to make money. Rapport Global thinks that if the Stage and the SOund is good(sound has always had a problem, since the my first show in 2004) then they are world class. Its just a plug-in-plug-out stage and organiser needs to understand that stage alone does not determine if the show is "world class". I have a few questions proping up in my mind. (1) For a Brand like Rahman why do you need to coloborate with MARG to donate funds for AR Rahman foundation and Sakhti Foundation. Even if Rahman had done the show directly for Shakthi, the money would have come. Was collaborating with MARG so essential, taking 50K odd people for a 12 hour pacakage(total time to travel to-and-fro). (2) People pay money for the event that is promised. Not to see MARG advertising it self to 50K tired people(remember we are told no water bottles allowed but later everybody seemed to have one and people like me who adhere to ruled were idiots). When the program was promised to start at 6:30 PM why dint they start atleast after the MARG PR excercise. From 7:00 to 7:25 people were sitting like idiots. Tired and Hungry. (3) Extremely unproffessional not to have a Anchor for a show of this magnitude. Imagine 50 K people waiting and there is no show anchor, no introduction to songs, singers. Shocking. Most of the Junta dint know that AR was singing Fiqrana or what. Please organise more professionally. Introduce singers and Pieces. Treat the audience with respect. (4) The way back was another chaos with buses waiting in queque to leave the areana. The wait was for more than an hour. People sitting on the floor of the bus and what not. I reached home at 3 AM. Can't See a good reason why only MARG could do this. (5) The barricades dont work!!! I paid for my ticket but I sat or rather stood with people who dont seem to have paid or many of the people with 300 hundred rupee tickets landed in this part of the arena. The screens were not clear at all. That for the arrangments, to the music part. This sequence of songs has already been heard t the Times of India launch in Chennai Last year. The "Jaage hain" start and move to Khal Bali. Unless you have a fresher approach what was the need to do the same thing again. If Rahman wants to mix songs and does not want the language to be barrier that is great. ALthough many complained about Telugu(was it a dress rehearsal for the Hyd show?) and Hindi songs being played to a largely tamil audience, am ok as long as they take you thru the song by introducing it and taking people along. Certainly not the way it was done. Mr. Rahman has also moved away from the keyboards to being only a singer on the show. He dint seem as intersted as his earlier shows. But very kind and generouse himself. Did the backup singing for Maula when Javed ALi was singing and also wished everyone a safe journey back home. I am just as big a AR Rahman fan as many of you. But dissapointed by the quality of the show. In online to Rahman if you are listening "respect the audience". If gopal or any other Rahman Army people are listening to this. Try to change a few things.
