Bolly show postponement questioned

MEMBERS of the live entertainment fraternity have criticised organisers of the postponed Bollywood show in Durban that last week had the public furious, saying the apparent problems should have been anticipated.

Organisers Airport Times said last Friday that A Night With The Stars Reloaded, which was to be held at Moses Mabhida Stadium, was postponed over delays around visas for 30 performers.

Some of the artists scheduled to perform told

POST their visas were all in order.

Indian playback singer and music director Ankit Tiwari’s manager, Fujit Tiwari, said on Monday they were unsure why the event had been postponed: “My artist’s visas had been done.”

A performer who would only call himself Rayhaan said: “From my side, my team and I were booked. We had our visas. We are aware of the postponement but I never asked reasons.”

POST tried to shed more light on the visa issue, but the Department of Home Affairs was not able to assist by the time of publication.

The South African High Commission in India could not be reached for comment.

Durban Indian Consul General Dr Shashank Vikram had no knowledge of the visa issue.

The show was set to feature popular Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan, Madhuri Dixit and Sonakshi Sinha.

Airport Times had also hit out at the KwaZulu-Natal government for not providing financial backing for the show.

In an e-mail circulated to media, it said it had received “no satisfactory support” from the City of Durban or the KZN Department of Tourism.

“The various departments and individuals that were contacted for support for a massive Bollywood event which is due to take place in the City of Durban at the Moses Mabhida Stadium has incurred many obstacles due to it being a Bollywood Indian event.”

Organisers said yesterday they were awaiting confirmation of a new date for the show, either May 12 or 13.

They would not comment on how many tickets were sold, or whether they were relying on ticket sales to fund the event.

Both Computicket and Moses Mabhida refused to comment.

A selection of show promoters and event co-ordinators spoke to POST anonymously so as to not cause a rift in the sector.

One said: “So many actors come with their own crew members, and visa issues take a long time to work out. The time (promoters took) to pull this off was too short.”

Airport Times would not say how long they had been planning the event.

The fraternity questioned the strong expectation of government funding for the event.

Live shows are typically financed through sponsorships and ticket sales, they said, adding the government only chipped in on rare occasions.

“The government do fund events but I wouldn’t bank on it. The government work on a budget, if there is no budget (for an event), they won’t budge,” one said.

Veruschka Mungroo, a travel agent specialising in India travels, said: “With regards to visas, the show itself was very late in being organised. For the magnitude of the event, it had to be organised at least eight months ahead.”

Shabnam Singh, who had travelled from Johannesburg for the show, told POST: “It was extremely unprofessional to tell people at the eleventh hour that the show was postponed and expect (them) to sit about and wait for a rescheduled date.” Singh, who bought two R2 000 tickets on April 1, will be unable to attend the rescheduled event.

A ticket-holder from Durban said: “I was very angry because I went on Facebook at about 3am (Friday) and I saw the message that it had been cancelled. Who is going to see the message at that time?”

Attempts to contact Hrithik Roshan’s management were unsuccessful this week.