Oscar
winner
ar
rahman's
Jai
Ho
concert
at
the
Moses
Mabhida
Stadium
in
Durban
didn't
quite
meet
the
expectations
of
the
public
who
bought
tickets
to
the
show.
In
the
South
African
city
for
the
first
leg
of
his
three-city
tour,
the
singer-composer
then
travelled
to
Cape
Town
and
Sun
City
all
of
last
week.
A
source
present
says,
"The
audience
at
the
stadium
was
on
fire
to
watch
the
Mozart
of
Mumbai
perform
in
Durban
with
his
slick,
professional
cast
of
over
35
talented
performers.
Rahman
fans
were
excited
as
he
was
supposed
to
perform
to
film
music,
amongst
others
and
the
curiosity
was
greater
than
normal.
It
had
the
promise
of
being
a
memorable
event."
What
was
that!
Everything
looked
good
till
the
show
started
in
the
70,000-seater
stadium.
"About
12,000
spectators
and
6000
complimentary
passes
were
distributed
as
the
sale
of
tickets
was
slow.
The
sponsors
may
have
lost
between
500,000
to
750,000
USD.
Seventy
per
cent
of
the
13,00,000
South
African
Indians
are
South
Indians
and
about
80,000
Gujaratis.
“The
balance
is
a
mix
of
all
ethnicities.
So
there
were
Tamil,
Hindi,
Gujarati
and
even
Punjabi
tracks.
The
crowd
wasn't
inspired
and
that
impaired
the
enthusiasm
of
the
performers,
including
A
R
Rahman."
According
to
an
eyewitness,
"The
tackiest
number
was
the
singer-composer's
duet
with
Lata
Mangeshkar,
because
he
was
singing
live
but
Lataji
was
being
projected
through
a
DVD.
By
what
definition
can
we
call
that
a
live
show?
Some
performers
who
mime
to
a
recording
on
stage
are
banned
for
life.
What
should
be
done
for
this?"
Marred
show
Another
spectator
adds,
"Rahman
is
a
genius
composer
but
his
live
shows
are
marred
by
him
singing
most
of
the
numbers,
playing
many
instruments
and
even
emceeing
the
show.
He
is
a
master
music
maker
but
when
he
tries
to
do
everything
something
goes
wrong,
like
it
did
that
evening."
The
source
adds
that
the
show
was
more
like
an
expo
of
Rahman's
various
abilities.
"Then
he
announced
he
will
play
a
song
from
one
of
his
albums.
The
sparse
and
reluctant
applause
went
totally
silent
on
such
occasions.
Hariharan's
singing
was
more
welcome
than
the
music
maker
who
should
not
shift
the
focus
of
his
energies."
To
top
it
all
as
soon
as
the
Holi
song
began,
it
started
raining
and
the
audience
started
scrambling
away.
The
source
adds,
"Rahman
then
started
the
Jai
Ho
number,
which
was
to
be
the
highlight
of
the
show
and
put
a
break
on
the
exodus
especially
on
the
young
Indian
boys
and
girls.
The
act
ended
with
Rehman's
rendition
of
Maa
Tujhe
Salaam."
The
Other
Side
Rahman's
spokesperson
clarifies,
"People
at
Durban
and
South
Africa
loved
the
shows
and
we
got
great
feedback
on
his
website.
It
was
held
at
a
football
stadium
which
is
huge
and
naturally
can't
be
filled
to
capacity
during
a
musical
show.
It
was
almost
full.
“Also
regarding
Lataji's
duet
on
the
AV,
it's
a
format
that
Mr
Rahman
has
always
followed
since
his
shows
in
June.
In
fact,
he
recently
thanked
Lataji
for
her
contribution
to
his
music
at
another
show
where
she
wasn't
present.
It's
not
possible
for
her
to
go
on
these
shows."