Justin Bieber to perform in India again... Do we ever learn from our past mistakes?

Not again! Justin Bieber, the bratty badshaah of bubblegum rock, is scheduled to perform at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on October 18.

Have we forgotten what Bieber had done to us the last time he graced our land?

In 2017, Justin Bieber came, played and fled, leaving behind a trail of embarrassing questions for the organizers. Was it worth those thousands of rupees (ticket prices were as high as Rs 80-90, 000), only to see Ms Bieber miming his songs on stage? That’s right. Bieber Baba didn’t sing his songs live on stage: he just lip-synced to them while the songs played in the background.

Does Bieber care about Indian sensitivities? It doesn’t seem so. The way he upped and left suddenly after the 2017 concert left a very sour taste in even the most diehard Bieber fans’ mouths. He refused to meet anyone for a one-on-one and stubbornly turned down all attempts to organize any after-party.

Apparently, Jacqueline Fernandez, who was Bieber’s backstage hostess, was barely acknowledged by the Great American Superstar of the performing arts. But the worst insult was to one of India’s most revered classical musicians, the Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan who planned to gift a specially designed Sarod to Bieber, constructed specially to be played by a left-handed musician as Bieber, Khan Saab, discovered was a lefty.

Since it was his first visit, the Sarod was meant to be a welcoming gesture as an Indian artist. Justin Bieber’s concert organizers White Fox India suggested it and Khan Saab thought it would be great to make him strum a Sarod. Most guitarists fall in love with Sarod as it’s a same family of strings. Musicians Steven Tyler, Joe Walsh and Derek Trucks all own Sarods. It was a more travel friendly left-handed Sarod.

But alas, the gift remained unattended, unacknowledged. It is doubtful that Khan Sahib’s gift actually reached Mr Bieber’s hands .Even if it did, it meant nothing to him. He showed no regard for India and Indians.

And I am not talking about smiling at underprivileged children. As more and more details from Justin Bieber’s catastrophic 2017 concert in Mumbai emerged, it became horrifically clear that apart from blowing the mandatory kisses at shrieking crowds, Mr Bieber was not the least interested in Mumbai and his fans in India.

A huge question-mark hovers over all concerts in India featuring international artistes. Must the organizers and the audience tolerate a multitude of demands, tantrums and rebuffs just because some Billboard Badshah condescends to descend on our humble shores?

One now hears that the temperamental Bieber is cancelling all his concerts the world over  “for health reasons”.

Whose health, his or the organizers? If we are lucky, he will back out from the Indian concert too. This is one manifestation of the cancel culture that we all look forward to.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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