After a group of North Indian fans of AR Rahman walked out of his concert in Wembley, London last week, disappointed with the back-to-back Tamil songs performed at the concert, music composer and playback singer Reihana (AR Rahman’s sister), who is back in the city from London, called the controversy “something new”.
Speaking to Silverscreen, Reihana said, “I have been to many of his concerts, and this issue is something new to me. I was there on the stage during the concert. I usually notice people’s reaction when Rahman sings. I observed that everybody enjoyed the concert. It was a three-hour concert in which ‘Netru Indru Naalai’ was a segment. We sang only Tamil songs for 30 minutes in that segment. We also sang a lot of Hindi songs during the concert. According to me, out of 10,000, perhaps 10 would have walked out. People are making an issue out of this unnecessarily. Nobody can claim refund as, in my opinion, everyone enjoyed the concert.”
She added: “Last time, when we performed in London, we had 70 per cent Hindi songs and 30 per cent Tamil songs. So this time, we wanted to entertain the Tamil audiences and that’s why the show’s title was ‘Netru Indru Naalai’. We also promoted the show using the Tamil song, Azhagiye.”
Commenting on the social media uproar, Reihana said: “Rahman belongs to Indian music. So, let us unite by music. As a fan of a man who always chooses love over hatred, please don’t spread hate because of this.”