Festival organisers of the recently concluded Gorakhpur Mahotsav have threatened to issue an administrative notice to Sonu Nigam after he failed to perform at the Bollywood Night event, when an initially decided upon date was revised. Festivities had been brought to a stand- still on January 13, after the Indian government declared a day of mourning in the wake of the January 10 death of the Sultan of Omar, Qaboos bin Said. Nigam, who was appointed for an act on January 13, couldnu2019t take up the offer to perform on January 15 instead, owing to prior commitments. While he was willing to have his act rescheduled to a future date, he apparently refused to refund the advance payment of R 40 lakh. Nigam tells mid- day, u201c When a show is booked, [ apart from the singer], musicians, engineers and technicians charge [ for] the time [ they are allotting]. When the organisers cancel a show, it isnu2019t [ the artistesu2019] fault. Hence, their demand is surprising. Had it been cancelled from my end, I would be more than happy to comply. have agreed to perform again next year at the function, because this yearu2019s act was called off. I donu2019t see [ the reason behind] this hue and cry.u201d u2018 I have agreed to perform at the event next yearu2019 Sonu Nigam responds to Gorakhpur Mahotsav teamu2019s legal threat after singer refused to perform on revised date or return advance payment
