Hukum World Tour concert Chennai: T.N. MLA moves Madras High Court against film music composer Anirudh Ravichander

The Madras High Court on Friday (August 22, 2025) directed the organisers of film music composer Anirudh Ravichander’s Hukum World Tour concert at Seekinamkuppam near Kuvathur on East Coast Road (ECR) in Chennai on Saturday (August 23) to strictly comply with the conditions imposed by the Chengalpattu police to avoid chaos or mishaps at the event.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh ordered that the conditions imposed by the Mamallapuram Deputy Superintendent of Police, while granting permission for the concert, must be adhered to scrupulously. The interim order was passed on a writ petition filed by Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) MLA ‘Panaiyur’ Babu alias M. Babu, representing the Cheyyur Assembly constituency.

The judge also decided to keep the writ petition and directed the Registy to list it again on August 28 to find out whether the concert was organised in an orderly manner without giving room for a fiasco, such as the one that had occurred during A.R. Rahman’s Marakuma Nenjam concert at Panaiyur on ECR in September 2023 due to overcrowding and mismanagement.

The decision was taken after hearing the arguments advanced by the petitioner’s counsel R. Thrumoorthy, Additonal Public Prosecutor A. Damodaran, and senior counsel P.V. Balasubramanian, representing Primark Productions Private Limited and Brand Avatar, the organisers of the concert. The APP told the court that the police had imposed necessary conditions for the smooth conduct of the event.

However, filing a detailed affidavit in support of his writ petition, the MLA said he had received several representations from local residents, expressing concern over the conduct of the concert in their locality without putting in place adequate safety as well as other infrastructural requirements, especially when as many as 30,000 people were expected to participate in it.

“I inspected the venue just two days before the event and to my shock, no visible safety arrangements had been put in place. There are no temporary restrooms or sanitation facilities, and there is no sign of potable water stations or medical aid booths,” the MLA said. He clarified that his concern was not to stall the event but only to ensure that it was conducted with necessary precautions in place.

The MLA also claimed that fire safety arrangements were glaringly absent, and no evacuation plan had been formulated. “The approach road to the concert venue is a narrow 30-feet-wide rural road, which is wholly inadequate to handle the vehicular traffic. It could become a choke point,” he feared. He highlighted that the ECR stretch from Mamallapuram to Marakkanam was currently being converted from two to four lanes.

“These concerns are not merely speculative. Recent incidents have proven how dangerous an ill-planned mass event can become. In particular, I draw your attention to the A.R. Rahman’s Marakkuma Nenjam concert fiasco that occurred on ECR in September 2023. That event turned into a nightmare due to overcrowding and mismanagement,” the MLA said.

He had sought a direction to the Chengalpattu Collector to prevent the organisers from conducting Mr. Ravichander’s concert at Seekinamkuppam on Saturday, or at least postpone the event until safety arrangements were put in place.