Hyderabad: Singer Arijit Singh performed at Emaar Boulder Hills in the city on Friday night. And despite the concert starting two-and-a-half hours late at 9.40 pm, the singer sang until midnight and signed off with the famous Kabira song, leaving concert-goers “satisfied”. Apparently, “Arijit got stuck in a bad traffic jam, which delayed the sound-check arrangements”.
‘1-km long queue’:
The massive event was not, however, without its share of glitches and complaints. Outside the venue, thousands of concert-goers stood in the cold, in multiple queues that stretched for a kilometre. And that was just at the entry gate.
They had their friends lined up outside the box office area to exchange “ticket printouts” with the real passes. Businesswoman Sindhu Mokkapati says, “There were not enough signboards or volunteers to tell us which queue was meant for the entry and which one for tickets?” Others like Nadya Karim fumed, ‘What’s the point of booking online if one has to go through such a hassle?”
Since the delay was unexpected, people were seen struggling to find a loo to relieve themselves. The Ohri’s Hotel next to the concert arena did let a few use their washrooms, but when the numbers increased, they had to put up a “No washroom” notice.
The concert hoarding put up right in front of the venue, and also in newspapers, spelt Arijit wrongly as “Arijith”. Welcome to the South India, Arijit! When co-singer Supriya Pathak took the stage as Arijit took a 15-minute break, she enthusiastically told the audience “So here goes the song from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”.... That was until she started singing Senorita and the audience were heard murmuring ‘Not Yeh Jawaani… It’s from the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’
“It was worth it”:
But these glitches and complaints can be forgotten. Because for many out in the cold, with bladders bursting it was “totally worth it”. As IT professional Tejas Mishra says, “There was a little panic. The anchor (Sunny Khandelwal) kept on saying ‘Arijit will be here after a countdown of 10… But after the countdown, they started showing clippings of Arijit’s concerts and TV performances for five minutes. For a moment, I thought ‘Is this it? Will he not perform live.’ But these are minor issues, the wait was worth it. As soon as Arijit came on stage, things changed.”
And did Arijit Singh refuse a Rs 5 lakh request?:
While the organising team of Creative Heads wanted to spread the word about the concert, Arijit is not comfortable giving interviews or getting his photos clicked. He thus turned down all such requests. In fact, city’s Air Lounge apparently offered Arijit '5 lakh to make a five-minute appearance, but he didn’t entertain that either.
Abhinav Sardar Patel, who worked closely with the organisers to put the show together, says, “He is more than reserved, he likes to be with himself, his family and his music. He arrived in the city on Friday afternoon with his wife.”
A source from the show shared, “Arijit says ‘If I want to eat fish, I want to be free to go and buy it myself in the market. I don’t like these interviews and photos.”
