Police stop A R Rahman’s Pune concert citing 10 pm deadline; 'disrespectful,' says organiser

Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman had to abruptly end a concert in Pune on Sunday (April 30) after Pune police stopped it, citing the 10 pm deadline.

After the concert was held in Pune on Sunday, a video went viral on social media platforms in which a police officer was seen walking on the stage and asking Rahman, other artistes and organisers to stop the music show as it was already past 10 o’ clock.

A huge crowd had gathered to attend music maestro Rahman’s live concert held at Raja Bahadur Mills in Pune.

“As the deadline of 10 pm had passed, we asked him (Rahman) and other artistes 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 showing him the watch.

No case has been registered in this connection, a senior police official said.

In a Twitter post on Monday, Rahman, 56, thanked Pune for “all the love and euphoria” during “a roller coaster concert” but did not address the incident.

“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!” Rahman tweeted.

A close aide of Rahman, however, said the police could have sorted the matter with the organisers instead of asking Rahman to stop the performance.

“10 pm 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”.

“At the last moment, this should not have happened as the entire programme was well organised,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)