Fans livid as India show cancelled

THOUSANDS of Bollywood fans are out of pocket today after a show to see A-list stars like Hrithik Roshan and Madhuri Dixit, tonight was postponed at the 11th hour.

Show organisers, meanwhile, accused eThekwini Municipality of “not supporting Indian events”, which the council rejects.

Roshan, Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Harshdeep Kaur and Ankit Tiwari were to perform at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium this evening in a show titled A Night With the Stars Reloaded. Late last night, the organisers said the show had been tentatively confirmed for May 12.

The delay, said organisers Airport Times, had been caused by a glitch in the issuing of visas.

The stars’ fans, however, are livid at the last-minute change,with some upset that the postponement was not properly communicated.

Tracy Maharaj wrote: “Why is this show being postponed? I flew my daughter in from Johannesburg for this. I am seriously irate right now and expect an explanation. This is damn unprofessional at the eleventh hour!”

Shevon Singh wrote: “Who’s going to refund me my flight tickets which I have planned to come to Durban especially for the show? A day’s notice is ridiculous!”

The Durban-based organisers posted on its Facebook page: “Good Morning All Patrons, Due to unforeseen circumstances A Night of the Stars Reloaded Event has been postponed to a further date which will be announced. All the tickets will remain the same, the artists will be the same, the venue will be the same , so please hold on to your tickets. We thank your for your support and understanding and must apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Sadhana Dayanand of Airport Times said it was sympathetic to people who spent money on transport arrangements. “Unfortunately, this was out of our control. We have also incurred financial losses… as some things that were paid for already.

“We don’t know the reasons for the (visa) delays but it is being sorted and the show will go on at a later date with the same artists and people will be able to use their tickets for the same seats they booked.”

When news of the postponement spread yesterday, Dayanand took a swipe at the municipality, saying they did not support “Indian events”.

“The various departments and individuals 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. The support request process was initiated in January and to date, all we got from the Council was that there is no budget. If there is no budget then the question arises as to how the City makes the budget possible for a non-Indian event whereby there is millions laid out?”

Tickets ranged between R285 to R2 000 for front row seats, and Dixit and Sinha did promotional videos.

Hrithik Roshan