Letdown for music lovers

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 30. Hundreds of enthusiastic music lovers had to return disappointed here on Sunday evening when renowned Telugu playback singer, Mrs. S. Janaki, performed at the Ravindra Bharathi.

Clutching sheaves of tickets which they had purchased for the show, a large number of people stood rooted outside the auditorium braving the downpour for more than two hours and demanded the organisers, Siti Channel, that they be sent in to watch the legendary singer. She was accompanied by a host of luminaries of Telugu film music, including Mr. S.P. Balasubramaniam.

"Is this the way you treat genuine ticket holders," an old man fumed after he was elbowed out from the main entrance of the auditorium by the police. "We came here around 7 p.m. well in advance for the show. But, we were denied entry on the pretext that the hall was already full. We were even ready to watch the show standing in the aisles," a middle aged woman who came with her children in tow pointed out.

The restive crowd raised slogans, but to no avail. None of the organisers were anywhere in sight. "The organisers could have held the show at a later date when they fully knew that Ravindra Bharathi cannot hold so many people," another said.

The show was originally scheduled to be held at the spacious Lalitha Kala Thoranam, but heavy rains forced the organisers to shift the show to Ravindra Bharathi. "Obviously, the number of tickets sold for the show were much higher than the capacity of the auditorium leading to the chaos," said ACP, Traffic, Tank Bund, Mr. Tejbahadur Singh.

The ACP, Saifabad, Mr. Shankaraiah and a sizeable posse of police personnel had a tough time in managing the crowd. "There is no room. You better leave the place and watch it at home on television," was their advice.

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Section  : Southern States
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