America
Jerry Seinfeld's Mumbai show: Organisers explain cancellation
Mumbai, March 14
It is "unfortunate" that Emmy
and Golden Globe-winning stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld's maiden shows
here had to be cancelled due to last minute traffic and parking related
issues, says a representative of the show's organising body Only Much
Louder (OML).
The official announcement of the cancellation of
the performances, which were scheduled to take place at the Sardar
Vallabhai Patel Stadium, National Sports Club of India (NSCI) here on
Saturday and Sunday, came from the organisers on Friday.
Explaining
the turn of events, Vijay Nair, CEO, OML, told IANS: “Everything was
going on track until Wednesday, when we got a call from the local police
station saying that they're not going to give the event a license
because there are some parking issues and they've decided that shows
can't be given permission at NSCI."
The cancellation of the
license came as a result of the increased pressure on the Mumbai traffic
police after a major fracas that took place on March 1, when
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' convoy reportedly held up
traffic outside NSCI as he was on his way there for a political event.
“...Police
had to re-think licensing of events at this venue. However, the first
time we were told about this issue was on March 11. We did everything we
could to come up with solutions, including offering to book additional
parking and doing the show at 3 p.m. so that traffic would be minimal.
“However, this was not satisfactory for the authorities and we were told that the event would not get a license,†Nair added.
The
organisers, who have previously organised events like the AIB Knockout
and Russell Peter's performance in India last month, were forced to call
up Seinfeld and cancel the event.
“...On the night of March 11, a
few hours before the artist’s crew were scheduled to get on a flight,
we called them and cancelled the show. The private jet which was booked
for the artist was also cancelled,†he said.
Just as OML was
about to go public with the cancellation, Nair got a call from the
authorities on Thursday and was called for a meeting. Due to the
involvement of an international star, the authorities decided to give
the go ahead since a last minute cancellation would reflect badly on the
country.
This was, however, not possible since the logistical arrangements couldn't be made to get Seinfeld here in time.
“Since
this would be a last minute cancellation, the authorities were trying
to help us with a plan to let this weekend’s events go on... Having
cancelled the performance with the artist already, we did our best to
re-book a charter and look at every possible option to get them here on
time.
“Unfortunately, with all our travel arrangements changed,
parking slots cancelled and crew being re-assigned, it became impossible
to make this work... It was just too late. In short, we were trying to
arrange what took us a month the first time around, in 12 hours time,â€
Nair said.
Although the cancellation of Seinfeld's performance
cost OML an estimated $2 million, the comedian's manager and agents were
very supportive towards the organisers following the cancellation.
“I
was coordinating with Jerry's manager and agents and they were really
supportive and understanding but the entire turn of events was
unfortunate. Our loss is going to cross about $2 million,†said Nair.
The
capacity at the venue was for 3500 occupants per day and, according to
Nair, all but 80 tickets were sold out for the first show and a 170 odd
remained for the second day.
Fans who purchased tickets for the
shows will be issued a full refund by March 25. Details about the same
have been e-mailed to all ticket buyers and a special helpline will be
in operation from Monday onwards to address any queries that fans might
have.
Seinfeld's comedy career took off after his first
appearance on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1981 and he later
became the man behind comedy series "Seinfeld".