There has been some speculation on how many zeroes brought Justin Bieber to India.
His last visit to Mumbai had gone very badly. This was is in 2017. Justin Bieber came lip-synced his songs 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.
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.
Bieber’s bratty behaviour in the past did not deter his presence at the royal sangeet this week.And according to a source in the know, Bieber was paid a mindboggling 100 crores rupees for his august presence in July.
The informed source divulges, “Earlier Rihanna was paid Rs 100 crores for her performance at the Ambanis’ celebration in March. Bieber got the same. The Indian performers get much less.”