Rahman in Kolkata: Melody amid anarchy

Saturday’s A. R. Rahman Jai Ho Live in Concert at the Salt Lake Stadium was a veritable feast both for the eyes and for the ears. The young maestro’s live rendition of unforgettable Bollywood tunes with a punch of hip-hop, funk and jazz left Kolkata wanting for more. The stage pyrotechnics were brilliant as were Rahman’s entourage of dancers who mesmerised the assembled multitudes with inimitable moves.

The immovable traffic on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass even hours before the show was proof enough of Kolkata’s love for music. Ticket prices – which ranged from a mere Rs. 100 for a gallery seat to a whopping 5,000 for a VIP pass – didn’t deter die-hard Rahmaniacs from spending the evening in musical proximity to the Oscar winner. However, the event management was a dismal failure that left many members of the audience, particularly those who paid Rs. 1,000 for a ground seat, pissed to the bone as they had to hunt the venue for unoccupied chairs. Many chose to watch the entire show standing as sitting on the grass was not an inviting option.

The introduction by Dr. Kalyan Bose, vice president, Liver Foundation, was made to appear embarrassing: the technicians in charge failed to turn off the flood lights even after repeated requests from Dr. Bose. Moreover, his well-meaning introduction, shot through with a cocktail of Bengali, Hindi and English words, was something of a monumental bore. The boos emanating from the audience could do nothing to convince him of his incompetence as a speaker.

Although the security on the evening seemed to be pretty tight – hordes of khaki-clad police personnel were seen sitting and loitering in the back, sipping tea and chatting (presumably) about music – no one bothered to frisk audiences who poured into the stadium after 4:30pm.

We’d patiently waited for six long years for Rahman to do his second spectacular gig in Kolkata, and when he finally did perform in our city and wow us with music, we couldn’t make his show a holistic treat for all and sundry.