AR Rahman reschedules Chennai concert due to 'adverse weather conditions'

CHENNAI: Music maestro AR Rahman has announced that he will be rescheduling his Saturday concert here owing to ''adverse weather conditions and persistent rains''.

Rahman, who was set to perform the first gig of his concert tour ''Marakkuma Nenjam'' here at Adityaram Palace City, ECR, shared the news on his official social media pages.

''My Dearest Friends... Owing to adverse weather conditions and persistent rains, it is only made advisable for the health and safety of my beloved fans and friends to reschedule the concert to the nearest best date, with the guidance of the statutory authorities,'' the Oscar winning composer wrote.

''More details on the new date will follow soon!'' he added.

''Marakkuma Nenjam'' (loosely translated from Tamil to mean 'will my heart be able to forget this') concert will celebrate Rahman's 30 years as a music composer.

It is set to start from Chennai and move to other cities in India and abroad. The concert will also travel to France, Germany and Switzerland for the first time.

Earlier Rahman had requested the concert-goers to leave early for the venue and secure their seats for ''memorable concert experience''.

''Dear friends attending the Chennai concert tonight, I'm excited to see you all after so long! We request you to leave early and secure your seats early to have a memorable concert experience,'' he posted on Saturday afternoon.

Many of the ''Jai Ho'' composer's fans, who had flown down from cities such as Bengaluru and Pune to attend the concert here, expressed their disappointment over rescheduling.

''I'm already halfway through the concert. Sheer disappointment thalaivar,'' a fan wrote on microblogging site X.

Another said, ''We are returning with disappointment sir! Hoping to see you back soon!'' ''My heart is broken...Was waiting for the musical experience so much... We were almost there at the venue... Hopefully I will get to witness @arrahman live one day in the near future...#MarakkumaNenjam,'' a user said.

Rahman, who has worked in the south, in the Hindi film industry as well as Hollywood, Broadway and the London stage, burst into the music scene with Mani Ratnam's "Roja" in 1992.

In his over three decade long career, Rahman has composed soundtrack for movies "Ponniyan Selvan" parts one and two, "Enthiran", ''Sivaji: The Boss'', "Rangeela", ''Bombay'', "Taal", ''Yuvraj'' and ''Rockstar'' among others.

He won two Oscars for "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2009 -- best original score and best original song. Rahman also won a Grammy as well as a Golden Globe for his work on the Danny Boyle directorial.