AR Rahman's concert at Wembley in the UK caused a fight between Hindi and South Indian film viewers. Some members of the audience who had attended the event were apparently upset with the Mozart of Madras for singing Tamil songs as they reached the venue with hopes of listening to Bollywood numbers.
The disappointed fans asked the organisers to refund their money as they had not gone to the concert to listen to Tamil songs, the News Minute reported. Their comments on Twitter made South Indian film buffs point out the forceful imposition of Hindi on them in the southern parts of the country.
The Tamilians told the disappointed fans that AR Rahman belongs to the state and his biggest songs have been a part of Kollywood.
The divide between Hindi-speaking people and South Indians has grown in the recent times. Kannada and Tamil-speaking people have raised concerns on social media about their languages being sidelined, and Hindi replacing the regional languages in banks and other central government offices.
Here are the comments made by both the sides:
Girish Kargadde: lol! Few ppl who term us as parochial when we speak for our linguistic rights are very upset about #ARRahman show. #nammametrohindibeda
Sangita Nambiar: The Hindikaar walked out of an #ARRahman concert that was called 'Netru, indru, naalai' because he sang too many Tamil songs. Muttaals!!!
Jayendran Gopinath: #ARRahman #Tamil We tamilzan's are really happy for the concert in London. It also prove's that you're a real tamilzan..!! @arrahman
VID: #ARRahman SINGS a lot of Tamil songs and suddenly all HINDI folks erupt, lol guys that's the same feel when u want ur HINDI all over south.
Gautam Vaidya: #ARRahman concert: Never seen so much #dissapointment & #masswalkouts. Approx 1% of songs in Hindi. #ssearena filled on #falseadvertising
Nazia Chishty: Lovely to see @arrahman but all the songs are in Tamil! What about your Hindi/Bollywood fans? #ARRahman #london
Archana Sawant: #ARRahman very disapointed with the concert tonight in Wembley. Waited for a very long time to be disappointed. Not expected from a legend
Omer Chowdhury: That was my first ever Tamil concert guys. Albeit completely unintentional #ARRahman #SSEArena #Fail #Refund?
Vinay Aravind: So Amits heard 16 Hindi songs and 12 Tamil songs and now want a refund. https://twitter.com/ARRahmanFC24x7/status/884453930767458304 ...
Karikalan The Emperor: #ARRahman we hear modi speaking in Hindi always, what refund Hindians gonna give???
Arun J: We must demand refund of tax paid to Indian Govt as we dont get service in my Lang
Karikaalan Arima: #ARRahman is a Tamil born musician, We watched Doordarshan for decades in Hindi. One Show with Tamil songs and Hindi Hoopla goes mad.
Abhi Nandan: This is how v feel when Hindi is imposed or Hindi songs r in list in Yuva Dasara Mysuru or Hindi is heard in flight announcement.#ARRahman
Garga Chatterjee: Hindis want concert ticket refund coz #ARRahman sang Tamil songs. NonHindi states be refunded for taxes that subsidize Hindi states frm 1947
Think Like Art: Everyone saying they want a refund for #ARRahman concert.Why?Yes the songs were in Tamil. His originally a Tamil singer.#ssearena #norefund
