#RahmanInsulted: Walkout blown out of proportion

AR Rahman's London concert on July 8th has snowballed into a social media controversy.  Although the show was titled in Tamil language, it didn't stop the musician's non-Tamil fans from expecting Hindi-language performances from him.  When they heard him sing Tamil numbers over and over again, some of them walked out, exercising their 'right to reject'.

They demanding refund of ticket prices is not problematic too.

However, a few individuals on Twitter and Facebook are finding fault with Rahman, accusing him of dumping Hindi when he owes his popularity to Bollywood!  This is absurd because Rahman was hardly ignoring or insulting Hindi.  He was only catering to Tamil-speaking audience, who came there to enjoy his Tamil songs.  Why wouldn't they, when the show's title itself was Tamil.

Meanwhile on Twitter, Rahman has found support from a cross section of commentators.

Singer Chinmayi Sripada tweeted: When Rahman sir wins 2 Oscars and creates history, he is "An Indian", but 7-8 Tamil gaane kya gaa liye aap naraaz hote ho. What yaar?

Rahul Roshan, a well-known Nationalist commentator, tweeted: I still prefer 'Dhivara' (Bahubali-1 song) in Telugu over Hindi, without understanding a word. Really find the Rahman concert walkout stupid.

Saurabh Shukla tweeted: Tamil people have saved our traditional cultures and heritages.  Why hate them? Be it Tamil,Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, etc love it all

Prajval Rane tweeted: People walk out of a concert or a show when they don't like it.  Please don't make it a Hindi versus Tamil controversy. #united

Another user tweeted: It has nothing to do with the Tamil. Happened with Mohit Chauhan once in Gujarat. Stop the politics n religion game.