Musical event ended abruptly over time constraints

Hundreds of music enthusiasts who came all the way from Mumbai to listen to artiste Padmashree Padmaja Phenany-Joglekar's soulful songs returned disappointed as authorities at Balgandharva Rangmandir stopped the musical event abruptly citing time constraints.u00a0

According to the organisers, curtains came down on the event, which was scheduled on Saturday evening between 6 pm and 9 pm, an hour before the allotted time, much to the dismay of music lovers and singer Phenany.u00a0

She performed without even accepting an honorarium as it was a fundraising event.u00a0Mangaldeep, an annual fundraising event, is organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India (MSSI), Pune chapter.u00a0

When the event was at its peak, the organisers told the artiste to suddenly wrap up the programme, following which the audience gathered at the ticket window wanting to know the reason behind the abrupt end.u00a0

Music enthusiast Makarand Thosar, who was accompanied by his wife, said, "I don'tu00a0know whose mistake it is, but we are not happy with what happened.u00a0In the newspaper advertisements as well as on the tickets the mentioned time was 6 pm to 9 pm, then how can they suddenly stop the programme one hour before the scheduled time?"u00a0

Manager of the auditorium Amar Pardeshi said that he had informed the organisers about the time schedule of the event. "When the organisers approached us we already told them that we have another show at 9.30 pm on the same day. That they have to wrap up the programme one hour before scheduled time of another show. Even on the booking paper of the auditorium, I had written 'Accepted the time from 5 to 8 pm' and signed it. Therefore there was no any mismanagement from our side," he said.

When contacted organiser and activist of MSSI Jyoti Ronghe claimed that authorities at the auditorium didn't mention their scheduled time on the paper, which they have given to the MSSI. "The authorities have given me the copy undersigned by the manager has 6 pm to 9 pm mentioned on it. We have booked the auditorium by giving more than Rs 11,000 just for three hours.u00a0

They should tell us in writing about their scheduled time so that we could arrange the programme between 5pm and 8 pm. The audience who paid Rs 200 for per ticket and the singer, who came to the city just to perform, returned disappointed due to such mismanagement from both the sides."u00a0