Again, in a completely arbitrary act, the Mumbai performances of Jerry Seinfeld, the American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer, were cancelled in Mumbai as the organisers of the show, ‘Only Much Louder’ (OML) were denied permission at the last minute, just as Seinfeld and his team were boarding their charter flight in the U.S. OML was forced to cancel the show and inform Seinfeld’s team. They were subsequently granted permission, but by then it was too late. OML, which also organised the AIB Roast and is the pioneer music management company in India, has suffered huge financial losses, with figures of US $2 million doing the rounds. In the past, OML which is no fly-by-night outfit, has organised shows of internationally acclaimed comedian Russell Peters, The Weirdass Pajama Festival, where it is a minority partner with comedian and actor Vir Das, apart from managing AIB, a satire set up by comedians Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya and Rohan Joshi, whose ‘Royal Turds’ show has been repeatedly sold out.
The only silver lining in these arbitrary times is that the Supreme court has scrapped a much misused cyber law (Section 66A of IT Act which made posting “offensive” comments online punishable with a 3-year jail term), that gave sweeping powers to the police to arrest anyone for posting annoying or “offensive” comments online.
This was based on a petition of 24-year old Shreya Singhal, a lawyer, who like a few others, moved court after two Palghar women were held for criticising the Mumbai shutdown following Bal Thackeray’s death. While this may not change things much, as posting defamatory and inflammatory content online is still punishable under the Indian Penal code, at least your comments on the social media won’t be subjected to this section anymore.
In a brief telephonic interview with E. Vijayalakshmi Rajan, the CEO of Only Much Louder, Vijay Nair, spoke about what needs to be done to ensure the Indian state doesn’t act arbitrarily. He also spoke about the rising intolerance in India.
Let me start by asking you about the AIB Roast aftermath. What are the broad, main permissions required to stage a show like AIB Roast?
It’s the same as any other event. We had to acquire a total of 15 permits which includes Traffic NOC, permits from the Fire Department, Police, PWD etc.
Did you have to submit a script? It is being claimed that you didn’t submit the correct script.
Yes, we had to submit the script, which is a synopsis of the show and we did everything required.
Did you have any inkling that this issue would blow up in such a big way?
We didn’t expect the scale of this controversy. We thought it would be something that would work well and would be popular. And it became very popular, but we didn’t think it would become
such a big controversy.
Who made the decision to take it off YouTube? Do you think it was the right thing to do?
Taking the film off YouTube was a collective decision made by the AIB people and us. I think it was absolutely the right decision.
Where do you think is the line between freedom of expression and causing offense to someone?
As far as I am concerned, there is no line.
Are you aware of India’s Daughter documentary being banned? What’s your opinion about that?
I don’t see how banning it has helped. In fact, more people have ended up watching it! I am against such bans.
Coming to the cancellation of the Jerry Seinfeld show, what were the main permissions required for that and did you have it in place?
Yes, we had all the permits in place.
What do you think really happened?
There was an event on March 1 at the venue (Sardar Vallabhai Patel indoor stadium attached to the NSCI Club, Worli), which had resulted in a huge traffic pileup, and so the Police took the decision to withhold permits for events there on weekends. This unfortunately affected us.
You have called your monetary loss as the single largest such loss?
You have read the figures floating around.
Aren’t you taking any legal recourse?
See, it is their discretion. There is a clause which says that they can withhold a permit as per their discretion. So we can’t protest against that.
Didn’t you at any point feel helpless and frustrated and angry?
Of course, yes. It was very frustrating, and I felt helpless. You aren’t really prepared for such an eventuality. But getting angry and frustrated beyond a point wouldn’t have helped the situation at all.
Which have been your best venues among the metros?
I would say Bangalore has been the best venue. It is very smooth, very organised, and works like a well-oiled machinery. After Bangalore, all the other cities including Mumbai come.
What in your opinion does India and especially the metros which seem more intolerant than most cities, need in terms of bringing uniformity and accountability in this area? Or is that just a pipe dream?
It is very easy to bring uniformity and accountability in organising such shows. There has to be a one-window clearance for licenses and permits. There are world standards and we can replicate it in India too. It will just take 30 days to replicate and put the procedures in place. We along with EEMA (Event and Entertainment Management Association, India’s first apex industry body) have approached the Delhi and Maharashtra governments. We have already got the Delhi government’s commitment on this.
So, are we becoming an arbitrary society where we can’t take anything for granted?
Actually India has always been like this, but of late it has got worse. Everytime something like this happens, that becomes the new ‘normal’.
So will you try to get Seinfeld back to India?
Sure. It will happen again. Not just Seinfeld, but other international artistes too. It will be more challenging, but more international events will definitely happen.