For the average concert-goer, a flying bottle, students dancing on barricades or throwing water during fests is a common sight. The recent incident at SGRR University in Dehradun, where
Sunidhi Chauhan
dodged a bottle while performing on stage, is yet another in the line of instances that
singers
have faced at fests. “Fests mein aisa hota hi hai, woh thode scary toh hote hi hain,” singers tell us.
What happened?
During Sunidhi Chauhan’s recent
concert
(May 2) in Dehradun, a bottle was flung at her.
“The bottle came flying towards me and hit the mic. Mere saath aisa pehle kabhi nahi hua tha, so I was taken aback. I was not hurt, and I continued singing. I realised that it was not done intentionally,” the singer told us.
Salim Merchant: These things happen, not so surprised
It happened a long time ago with me at a college in Faridabad. I think it was a plastic cup or something but a couple of them were hurled on stage. It didn’t really hit my face. These things happen. I am not so surprised and I feel in a crowd of
five to six thousand people, there are always a few odd ones but because of those, others should not suffer and miss out on the musical experience that they are having. You should just ignore and let it pass like Sunidhi did.
Kailash Kher: College fests thode scary toh hote hai
In 2014, we were performing at a
DU college
and there was some ego tussle within two university student groups. Excitement was at its peak and all of a sudden, there were a lot of lathis and so many sharp objects were thrown in the crowd. Palak jhapakte hi kuchh log stage tak aa gaye. Humko protect kar diya wahan ke management ne, lekin kuchh log wahan chadhke narebaji karne lage. Phir humne dekha kisi ka sar phoota hua hai, humko toh jaake car mein baithna pada. Kuchh logon ko photos chahiye issliye jhagda hua. Hum car mein baithe, toh ek banda car ke peeche bhaaga aur bola, ‘Bhai chahe mera haath toot jaye, main toh haath nikalunga nahi gaadi se’. Matlab mohabbat bhi hai, pyaar bhi hai, lekin aisa scary pyaar? Toh DU aur yeh college fests mein aisi cheeze hote hain yeh thode scary hai. Woh energy bhi alag hoti hai.
Nikhita Gandhi: This has happened to me particularly in Delhi colleges
This has happened tons of times at my shows too, particularly in Delhi colleges. I was initially oblivious to it while performing, and then my bandmates told me that during several of our shows, bottles, oranges, and other random objects had been thrown around both in the audience and on stage. A bottle almost hit me once. It’s really sad and scary that people can get like this during concerts. It can cause accidents to both them and the people on stage.
Akriti Kakar: Don’t know how I’d feel if a bottle was thrown at me
This has never happened with me in all of my performing career. But people have said nasty or borderline nasty things sometimes. And back in the day, I was too chicken to reply but now I am not. So that’s one change I have brought in myself to handle situations like these. But honestly, I don’t know how I’d feel if someone would throw a bottle or something else on stage. As an artiste, that is devastating and that’s not why you display your art and talent in front of people. You want to be loved, appreciated and respected. If something like this happens, I think what Sunidhi did was absolutely praise-worthy. She handled it with utmost grace and so beautifully with a great presence of mind and I think I would like to salute her for it. Some artistes can be temperamental, call off a concert. One can shed a tear, one can get angry, there are so many ways to handle a situation like this, but what she did was incredible.
Rahul Vaidya: A host at a private party threw a glass with alcohol on stage
I was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, it was a private party and the host got really drunk and I think he had a pattern of getting violent after having alcohol. He threw a glass with alcohol on the stage angrily which ended up hitting almost the right eye of my keyboardist. The injury was so bad that he had to get 12 stitches on his eyebrow. There was blood all over the stage, we were helpless because we were in a foreign country. And when someone invites us, you really can’t do much about it.
