Neha Kakkar hit headlines for arriving three hours late at a Melbourne concert in March. Several videos emerged online where Neha was seen breaking down on stage after the audience booed her. Later, Neha accused the organisers of the show of running away with her money. She also claimed that her team was not given hotel, food or water in Melbourne. Days later, event organisers from Australia, Pace D and Bikram Singh Randhawa claimed that there's no truth in Neha's side of story. They said Neha was not willing to perform in front of only "700" people.
Speaking to Siddharth Kannan, Pace D and Bikram Singh Randhawa shared that Neha had two shows with the same company on two consecutive days. Her first show was in Sydney, which was attended by 1500-2000 people, and went well.
The second show, which was held the next day, was in Melbourne, which was only attended by 700 people, and it was for this show that she showed up three hours late. "The crowd was very angry at her because they had been waiting for hours," they said and added that people paid around 300 AUD (approximately Rs 16,000).
They claimed that Neha refused to perform and asked the organisers to fill up the venue. "What I got to know from the organiser was that she said that there are just 700 people, so until you fill up the stadium, I won't perform," they claimed.
On Neha's claims that there was no sound check, and the organisers didn't pay the sound engineers, Pace D and Bikram said, "There were opening acts there and everyone performed and all the set up was done. I don't think what she was saying is true."
Refuting Neha's claim that they were not given food, water and hotel accommodation, Pace D and Bikram said that there was a queue of cars there and the hotel was booked. "Where was she staying if there was no hotel? She was traveling in a G Wagon," they said and added that it is common practice in Australia to pay the artiste in full before they fly to the country.
"Even before the artiste flies to Australia, they are fully paid. 100 percent, she was paid in advance, this is something very basic in Australia," they claimed. They also added that since the crowd did not show up for the show in Melbourne, the organiser had to suffer a loss of 500,000 AUD.
After Neha Kakkar received backlash on social media for arriving late, she shared a long note on Instagram, stating her grievances. She wrote, "Do you know that I performed for absolutely free for my Melbourne audience? The organisers ran away with my money and others too. My band was not even given food, hotel, and even water. Do you know our sound check got delayed by hours because the sound vendor was not paid and he refused to put the sound on. And when, after so much delay, our sound check started, I could not reach the venue. We didn't even know if the concert was happening because the organizers stopped picking up my manager's calls."
Neha Kakkar is known for hits like Badri Ki Dulhaniya, Sunny Sunny, Coca Cola, Garmi, Gali Gali, to name a few.