Allegations and counter-allegations are flying over Pritam’s cancelled New Jersey show of Saturday. Apparently, the Bollywood music director failed to show up for his much publicized ‘Pritam Live-in-Concert’ at the last minute leaving the organisers in the lurch and reportedly facing losses of up to $250,000. Further, one of the organisers Jaweria Khan is reportedly now in hospital with the stress.
What went wrong? According to the organizers, some lame excuse was made of a few lights not being on the stage, but they allege that Pritam did not even come to the CURE Insurance Arena where the concert was slated to be held. Co-organiser Raj Uppal called Pritam's behaviour unprofessional on social media. He wrote that they had made all payments to the music director and his band, and also for the venue, audio, lights, video, hotel, etc. In short, they left no stone unturned to promote and market the show. “The main factor for this cancellation is Pritam, the artist himself. Being such a talented individual of Bollywood, we did not expect such unprofessional behaviour from him,” said Raj.
According to the organisers, only a string of lights was not functioning. However, though their technical team offered a solution, Pritam’s engineer flatly turned it down. When they went back to the hotel to discuss the matter with Pritam, the organisers allege, “He didn't even have the courtesy to come out of his room once, which was paid for by us, nor did he go to the Arena to check the wonderful setting created on stage to present him and his band.”
They believe Pritam was looking for reasons to cancel the show and blame the local promoters for not performing it. Raj said, “One reason given to us by a source close to him was that he was told that only 300-500 tickets were sold which made him behave in such a manner and eventually get the show cancelled. But the fact is that we had sold nearly 3000 tickets plus we were expecting more to be sold during the whole day and at the box office.”
In return, Pritam hit back with his version of events and claimed the organizers failed to provide him and his band with the requirements needed for the show. He tweeted, “Their false promises and lies have made me hurt, heartbroken, disappointed and angry. When a musician gives a prior list of equipment needed for the show to the promoter that only means the show can’t happen without those. It is no luxury but sheer necessity to put up only a good audiovisual and musical experience for the people who bought the tickets and came a long way…”
https://twitter.com/ipritamofficial/status/983149054329786370
PeepingMoon.Com spoke to Aanand Dawda, director for the Pritam Live-in-Concert. He said, "A lot of incorrect information is out there. We have sent out an official press release. Keeping the sentiments of the fans in mind to watch Pritam perform live, we're ready to do another show if the organizers agree to fulfill the requirements."
