On the face of it, American comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld’s first ever show in India has been cancelled because of “issues relating to traffic and parking”.
The Mumbai police revoked permissions for the show two days ago on the grounds that the venue, the National Sports Club of India, did not have adequate parking space for the nearly 4,000 people who were expected to turn up for Seinfeld’s stand-up comedy show on Saturday and Sunday. By the time the police reconsidered their decision and gave their approval for the event, it was too late for the organiser, Only Much Louder, to rearrange the artist’s travel logistics.
But beneath the technical details, Mumbai audiences seem to have been robbed of an opportunity to watch Seinfeld’s act because of high-level tensions between Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the leadership of the Mumbai police, particularly police commissioner Rakesh Maria.
Stuck in the middle
Two weekends ago, on March 1, Fadnavis was at the same venue, the NSCI, to attend a fashion event organised by Bharatiya Janata Party politician Shaina NC. The arrival of the chief minister and his VIP convoy created confusion as the police prevented regular members of the sports club from entering the premises and parking there. The traffic and parking restrictions imposed by the police led to long traffic snarls in the area. Eventually, some members of the public attempted to block the Chief Minister Fadnavis's convoy.
Fadnavis later apologised on Twitter for the inconvenience caused to those who were “stopped by police unnecessarily”, claiming that he does not believe in VIP culture and that he would launch an investigation into the incident.
As damage control, Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria transferred three policemen over the next few days – first deputy commissioner Keshav Patil and then NT Sherkhane, the assistant commissioner of police for Mumbai south (traffic) and BT Mukhedkar, an inspector in the Worli traffic division.
The Jerry Seinfeld event, many believe, has become the victim of a battle between the police and the chief minister. Though Fadnavis placed the blame for the March 1 traffic chaos on the police, the police were presumably acting in accordance with the expected protocol for VIPs.
“When a VIP travels, the police are put in a corner" if they fail to clear traffic jams, said Vijay Nair, the chief executive officer of OML.
Harshil Chordia, a member of the Shiv Sena’s youth wing Yuva Sena, which had helped OML make additional parking arrangements, said, “The problem has arisen because of issues between the CM and the police commissioner – because the CM blamed the police for traffic issues that night. The commissioner then decided not to allow any events on weekends at the NSCI.”
Changing positions
For event organisers OML, the commotion and confusion began three days ago, when Rakesh Maria refused to grant permission for the Seinfeld shows, ostensibly because the NSCI would not have enough parking for the 3,500 audience members in addition to the hundreds of club members who might visit the venue on the weekend.
“I had already been given a no-objection certificate from the traffic police on March 5, days after the March 1 incident at NSCI,” said Nair, whose team then made quick arrangements to book more parking space around the venue. OML booked parking areas in nearby malls as well as the Nehru Centre complex nearby.
“We booked up space for 1,600 cars, even though we were not expecting more than 900 cars to actually park,” said Nair. His company, OML, had previously organised the controversial AIB Roast event at the same venue in December, when 4,000 audience members attended the comedy show without any parking troubles. “The only time the NSCI has had a parking issue, it was the government event on March 1.”
Despite all the licenses that Nair had acquired, the police did not relent on Wednesday. Since Seinfeld’s management was about to leave for Mumbai from the US at the time, Nair had to inform them about the cancellation.
On Thursday, however, an hour before Nair was about to publish a public announcement, he received a sudden go-ahead from the police. “Mr Maria said they were allowing the show because Seinfeld is a big international name and because my company would face severe losses,” said Nair, who had pleaded on these grounds on Wednesday.
Too late
The Mumbai police’s turnaround, however, came too late for Seinfeld, who would take nearly a day to travel to India on a private jet. Since his original travel plans had already been cancelled the day before, OML would have to re-book his flight, which involves applying for a whole range of international clearances for his private airplane to arrive at Mumbai airport through Europe.
This was one of the many logistical reasons why OML was eventually forced to cancel the much-awaited shows, tickets for which started at Rs 7,500. Nair’s company now faces a loss of more than $2 million, which he says will take several years to recover.
“People have come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about why we cancelled the show,” said Nair. Some have claimed the cancellation is connected to OML’s previous AIB show, while some claim the company is trying to cut losses because they did not sell enough tickets. “But we were almost sold out for both shows,” Nair said.
“If the Seinfeld show does not happen, it is a loss not just for OML but also for Mumbai,” said Chordia, who blames the controversy on excessive red tape. “This is the reason why even Formula 1 does not want to come to India.”
The Mumbai police revoked permissions for the show two days ago on the grounds that the venue, the National Sports Club of India, did not have adequate parking space for the nearly 4,000 people who were expected to turn up for Seinfeld’s stand-up comedy show on Saturday and Sunday. By the time the police reconsidered their decision and gave their approval for the event, it was too late for the organiser, Only Much Louder, to rearrange the artist’s travel logistics.
But beneath the technical details, Mumbai audiences seem to have been robbed of an opportunity to watch Seinfeld’s act because of high-level tensions between Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the leadership of the Mumbai police, particularly police commissioner Rakesh Maria.
Stuck in the middle
Two weekends ago, on March 1, Fadnavis was at the same venue, the NSCI, to attend a fashion event organised by Bharatiya Janata Party politician Shaina NC. The arrival of the chief minister and his VIP convoy created confusion as the police prevented regular members of the sports club from entering the premises and parking there. The traffic and parking restrictions imposed by the police led to long traffic snarls in the area. Eventually, some members of the public attempted to block the Chief Minister Fadnavis's convoy.
Fadnavis later apologised on Twitter for the inconvenience caused to those who were “stopped by police unnecessarily”, claiming that he does not believe in VIP culture and that he would launch an investigation into the incident.
As damage control, Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria transferred three policemen over the next few days – first deputy commissioner Keshav Patil and then NT Sherkhane, the assistant commissioner of police for Mumbai south (traffic) and BT Mukhedkar, an inspector in the Worli traffic division.
The Jerry Seinfeld event, many believe, has become the victim of a battle between the police and the chief minister. Though Fadnavis placed the blame for the March 1 traffic chaos on the police, the police were presumably acting in accordance with the expected protocol for VIPs.
“When a VIP travels, the police are put in a corner" if they fail to clear traffic jams, said Vijay Nair, the chief executive officer of OML.
Harshil Chordia, a member of the Shiv Sena’s youth wing Yuva Sena, which had helped OML make additional parking arrangements, said, “The problem has arisen because of issues between the CM and the police commissioner – because the CM blamed the police for traffic issues that night. The commissioner then decided not to allow any events on weekends at the NSCI.”
Changing positions
For event organisers OML, the commotion and confusion began three days ago, when Rakesh Maria refused to grant permission for the Seinfeld shows, ostensibly because the NSCI would not have enough parking for the 3,500 audience members in addition to the hundreds of club members who might visit the venue on the weekend.
“I had already been given a no-objection certificate from the traffic police on March 5, days after the March 1 incident at NSCI,” said Nair, whose team then made quick arrangements to book more parking space around the venue. OML booked parking areas in nearby malls as well as the Nehru Centre complex nearby.
“We booked up space for 1,600 cars, even though we were not expecting more than 900 cars to actually park,” said Nair. His company, OML, had previously organised the controversial AIB Roast event at the same venue in December, when 4,000 audience members attended the comedy show without any parking troubles. “The only time the NSCI has had a parking issue, it was the government event on March 1.”
Despite all the licenses that Nair had acquired, the police did not relent on Wednesday. Since Seinfeld’s management was about to leave for Mumbai from the US at the time, Nair had to inform them about the cancellation.
On Thursday, however, an hour before Nair was about to publish a public announcement, he received a sudden go-ahead from the police. “Mr Maria said they were allowing the show because Seinfeld is a big international name and because my company would face severe losses,” said Nair, who had pleaded on these grounds on Wednesday.
Too late
The Mumbai police’s turnaround, however, came too late for Seinfeld, who would take nearly a day to travel to India on a private jet. Since his original travel plans had already been cancelled the day before, OML would have to re-book his flight, which involves applying for a whole range of international clearances for his private airplane to arrive at Mumbai airport through Europe.
This was one of the many logistical reasons why OML was eventually forced to cancel the much-awaited shows, tickets for which started at Rs 7,500. Nair’s company now faces a loss of more than $2 million, which he says will take several years to recover.
“People have come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about why we cancelled the show,” said Nair. Some have claimed the cancellation is connected to OML’s previous AIB show, while some claim the company is trying to cut losses because they did not sell enough tickets. “But we were almost sold out for both shows,” Nair said.
“If the Seinfeld show does not happen, it is a loss not just for OML but also for Mumbai,” said Chordia, who blames the controversy on excessive red tape. “This is the reason why even Formula 1 does not want to come to India.”
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