Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, who hails from Tamil Nadu, got slammed on social media for performing Tamil songs at the Wembley Stadium. While some fans were left disappointed, others stood by his song selection and pointed out that music has no language barrier.
Rahman’s Netru, Indru, Naalai (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow) gig at the London event on July 8 didn’t hit the right chord with his fan base in its entirety, with admirers of his Bollywood numbers especially miffed. According to reports, some fans left the concert after Rahman started singing Tamil songs.
“A.R. Rahman concert: Never seen so much disappointment and mass walkouts. Approximately one per cent of songs in Hindi,” one fan posted on Twitter.
Another tweeted: “A.R. Rahman... very disappointed with the concert tonight [July 8] at Wembley. Waited for a very long time to be disappointed? Not expected from a legend.”
“Lovely to see A.R. Rahman, but all the songs are in Tamil! What about your Hindi/Bollywood fans?”
After the reported walkout, a statement was later issued on a Facebook page — A R Rahman Live — UK on July 10, saying: “Hi London. Thanks for the tremendous support and response. However, we have been getting a few complaints on language bias which is rather unfortunate as this was an Indian show and music doesn’t have any barriers.”
The Facebook statement, which could not be verified immediately, also sought to put the controversy in perspective. “We have posted the track list performed at The SSE Arena, Wembley to prove that there were 16 full tracks in Hindi, 12 full Tamil tracks and one medley with a mix of Tamil and Hindi.”
There were some fans who came out in support of Rahman. One wrote: “Everyone in the world knew that music doesn’t have a language....”
