Over the weekend, music maestro Ilaiyaraaja performed his symphony, Valiant, and some of his greatest hits at the Jawaharlal Nehru Outdoor Stadium in Chennai. Numerous celebrities, including Siddharth, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shobha Chandrasekhar, Karthik Subbaraj, Devi Sri Prasad, Pradeep Ranganathan, and more, were spotted over the two days. However, as thrilled as Ilaiyaraaja’s fans were to see him perform his symphony live, the event management company, ACTC Events, came under fire for alleged mismanagement.
Audience complains about bird poop, audiovisual issues and more
Some X (formerly Twitter) users claimed that they had walked out of the From Raaja With Love concert due to mismanagement. Listing out what went wrong in another post, one fan wrote, “1. No volunteers with uniforms to guide people. 2. ₹20 Bisleri bottle sold for ₹50 inside the stadium. 3. Seats full of dust and bird s**t. 4. The stage was at the end of the stadium. Nothing was visible. 5. LED screens are the size of the TV we have at home.”
They also added, “6. Poor audio quality and the singers couldn’t hear themselves and sang out of tune sadly. 7. Ilaiyaraaja was visibly frustrated and had to intervene frequently. 8. One glass of soft drink sold for ₹100. 9. Musicians were fabulous but unfortunate that they had to deal with the poor audio configuration. 10. Unwanted promo and celebrity talks. We didn’t pay to come listen to Parthiban talk in ethukai monai. Do not ever attend a concert with ACTC in its name.”
Another fan pointed out that the concert was delayed by an hour, writing, “Though Ilaiyaraaja’s music is supreme, if I have to call out one grouse – it’s his timing in concerts. This is not the first time, every show I’ve attended, the minimum delay is an hour. For a disciplinarian of his stature, doing this repeatedly does not bode well. #concert #IR.”
A fan also complained that it was their ‘worst experience’, writing, “Worst experience at Ilaiyaraaja’s Live-in concert @actcevents. Poorly set mics and sound system, couldn’t hear half the things Raaja was saying! And don’t even get me started on the bird poo filled seats. Symphony day >> Live-in concert.”
Fans confused if it’s a concert or an awards show
Some others were confused about the format of the Ilaiyaraaja concert, wondering why filmmakers were giving speeches in the middle of it. “Ilayaraja Concert- Big letdown I would say, I’m not new to concerts in the past I’ve attended Harris,arr vijay Antony concerts, but being an Ilayaraja fan this is something I was looking forward for a long time. I went for a musical concert but I got an Award function, where directors come to stage and talk random things and trailers play out and parthiban hypes politicians. My god.”
Another X-user called the concert a ‘scam’, writing, “SCAM @ilaiyaraaja. Travelled 500 km from Cbe just to listen to the live symphony. Heavily disappointed. The most basic thing a concert needs sound, but they scammed. No speakers, no arrangements & 80% we couldn’t hear anything. Waste of time, money & effort refund.”
They also added, “Bigger scam than mismanagement was…The 2nd half of the concert was nothing but a movie promotional event. We paid for a concert, not for movie promotions, director speeches, and trailer launches…Heavily disappointed #Ilaiyaraja.”
One fan even complained that ‘not even 30 songs’ were performed at the concerts, adding, “At a point, both the events felt like promotional events/talk shows for directors like Mari Selvaraj, Karthik Subburaj, Vetrimaaran & Parthiban barging into the stage unnecessarily to just promote their films. I still can’t fathom Vignesh Shivn talking on stage with no reason.”
The event management company and Ilaiyaraaja have yet to address these claims.