Sorry,(Don’t) Blame It On Me!

The 37-year-old Senegalese-American singer,known for hits like ‘Lonely’,’Smack That’,’I Wanna Love You’,‘Sorry,Blame It On Me’,was set to perform here as a part of ‘Venky’s Akon Live In Concert’. Almost 1200 people who had gathered at the venue for the show had to return home as the event company failed to get the Foreign Artistes Performance permission from the Mantralaya,Mumbai. “We had acquired police permission and the entertainment tax was paid. Only the foreign artiste performance permission was remaining,” said Aryann Navale,director,P3P Events. Navale admits that the permission was sought a little late,but insists that the process had been initiated by them. “We had applied for the permission a little late. We had filled the form and sent it to the Mantralaya office which had in turn sent it to the CID branch,Commissioner’s office,Pune,for an NOC (No Objection Certificate). The NOC from the Commissioner’s office was sent to the Mantralaya for approval,but we didn’t hear from them. Actually,the two official holidays delayed the process,” he justifies.

The Westin authorities meanwhile released a press release saying they had nothing to do with the ticket sales. “The responsibility for the ticket sales and the event was with the event management company and the hotel was in no way connected with the same. Akon came on stage accompanied by the sponsors,celebrated his birthday by cutting a cake but did not perform. This upset the crowd. But no untoward incident or damage to any individual or property took place,” the press release stated.

Netsurf Entertainment,which is coordinating Akon’s performance in the country,feels that the entire event was mishandled. “Even after inquiring about the permissions,we were kept in the dark. Around 50 of Akon’s friends were also present for the show and he was all set to perform. The crowd was upset for no fault of his,” said an official spokesperson on behalf of the singer.