Kutle Khan: Stop Trolling, Had No Role In Shilpa Rao’s Cut-Short Concert

MUMBAI-Folk singer Kutle Khan has issued a clarification amid the controversy surrounding playback singer Shilpa Rao’s performance at the Bollywood Music Project (BMP) in Mumbai on October 24, when her microphone was switched off and her performance was abruptly cut short.

Khan faced criticism after his set began while Rao was addressing the audience. He has now said the incident was not his doing and that he followed the timings and instructions given by the festival organizers.

Khan took to Instagram to explain his side of the incident, saying all the artistes had been assigned fixed time slots. He said Rao’s microphone and the stage lights were switched off while she was speaking, adding that he did not know how it happened.

“I don’t know how this happened. And it shouldn’t have happened at all. And it shouldn’t have happened at all from our side. Either the festival people know or their engineers know,” he said.

Khan also said his original 20-minute set had been reduced to one minute by the organizers. He said he agreed to the change and began his performance eight minutes late.

According to Khan, Rao later addressed the audience from another stage and said she wanted to thank them. He said he stopped his set to allow her to speak.

“And the sound is towards the audience, the mixer is towards the audience, I could hear in the in-ear that Kutli ji, start, start. So I started,” he said, explaining that he resumed his performance after hearing instructions through his in-ear monitor.

Khan described Rao as a close friend, saying she was “like my sister”, and criticized the online trolling surrounding the incident.

“And what is happening on social media right now, this troll that is going on, is very bad. It shouldn’t happen at all,” he said. (IANS)