AR Rahman Defies Controversy With Sold-Out Concert at Etihad Arena

Tickets for AR Rahman’s concert at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on January 23 were sold out. A crowd of approximately 20,000 people attended the demonstration, which lasted approximately four hours. Rahman started with South Indian songs before moving on to Indian hits.

Mozart of Madras opened the concert with “Jana Gana Mana” (from Mani Ratnam’s Aayutha Ezhuthu) and ended with “Vande Mataram/Maa Tujhe Salaam” as an encore (after fans thought “Chaiyya Chaiyya” would close the show). He also sang the Oscar-winning “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

This comes amid controversy sparked by a BBC Asian Network interview in which Rahman discussed the prejudices he has faced in Bollywood as a Tamil composer for the last eight years.

After a video clip from the interview went viral, netizens dug up an old video in which a prominent singer said that Taal’s melodies were originally created by him and later redesigned by Rahman. Video clips of Ram Gopal Varma saying unflattering things about Rahman also went viral. The tremendous success of his latest concert proves that the loyalty of his fandom is solid.