On Wednesday, October 4, reports emerged that renowned music composer AR Rahman has sent a Rs 10 crore defamation notice to the Association of Surgeons of India. He has asked the association to withdraw the complaint against him within three days.
The defamation notice was in response to a complaint filed against him by the Association of Surgeons of India at the Chennai police commissioner’s office, which stated that the musician received an amount of Rs 29 lakh in 2018 for a concert that he never performed.
His attorney responded and refuted all of the charges and his team has asked for Rs 10 crore as restitution for the attempt to smear the world-famous music director. He addressed a legal notice to the Association of Surgeons of India seeking that they drop their complaint against him within three days. He dismissed all of the accusations and argued that there were third parties involved of whom his client was unaware.
The counsel pressed for an unequivocal apology from the association for tarnishing the Oscar-winning musician’s reputation in the legal notification and to make a reparation payment of Rs. 10 crores for defaming him. If they do not pay the compensation, the ‘Jai Ho’ composer is going to pursue legal and criminal action.
The allegation stemmed from the lawsuit that AR Rahman who had been paid the money to put on a concert presentation in 2018 never did so and has refused to refund it. According to the organisation’s statement, he was approached to perform at an event hosted by the Annual Conference of the Association of Surgeons of India (ASICON) 2018. He consented to the same on one of the three days of the gathering in exchange for an advance payment of the aforementioned amount. Furthermore, it was stated that there would be no return if the function was scrapped.
Later, however, ASICON allegedly terminated the gig and insisted that he give back the sum because the ticket price for the concert was higher. His manager Senthil Velan asserted that the organisers afterwards contacted them and told them to return the deposit following which a complaint was lodged against the record producer.
Music concert of AR Rahman in Chennai turns into a nightmare
Prior to this, the winning music composer received a lot of flak when his Chennai concert turned into a nightmare after the organisers reportedly oversold the tickets which led to overcrowding and mass molestation.
AR Rahman’s ‘Marakkuma Nenjam’ (Will the heart forget) gala took place in Chennai’s Adityaram Palace on 10 September which was marred by multiple molestation reports, a stampede-like situation and bogus tickets. Despite having valid tickets, many people were turned away because of the crowding.
Following the controversy, AR Rahman took to X (formerly Twitter) to inform that refunds would be initiated for those who could not attend the event despite purchasing tickets. He, however, did not address the allegations of mass molestation levelled by the victims.