Latest news with #AshishHemrajani
Indian Express
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Coldplay's Ahmedabad show boosted economy by Rs 700 crore, Gujarat being dry state was a concern, says BookMyShow CEO: ‘Show's budget was…'
The idea to perform at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat was Coldplay's idea, said Ashish Hemrajani, the founder and CEO of BookMyShow. The band played five shows in India earlier this year, three in Mumbai and two in Ahmedabad. There were concerns about whether the Gujarat capital was infrastructurally capable of hosting such a massive live event, which saw over 2 lakh people in attendance, booked out local hotels, and fuelled an unregulated spike in ticket resales. In an interview with Raj Shamani, the BookMyShow CEO opened up about putting the events together, and the help and support that he received from top government ministers. 'To play in the world's largest cricket stadium, as a thought, came from the band,' he said, adding that work began a year prior to the actual show. Not only did they have to figure out how audiences will travel to and from the city, they also had to make sure that Gujarat being a dry state wouldn't hamper their enjoyment. He had to reach out to the Railway Minister to arrange for special trains from Mumbai, which was a tall ask at the time, seeing as the Mahakumbh was also taking place. Also read – Coldplay creates history with the 'biggest concert ever' in Ahmedabad: 'Totally mind-blowing' He said that he received an enthusiastic response from Jay Shah, who happily agreed to loan out the Narendra Modi Stadium. 'So, I had a partner in crime, and we went back to the band and said that it's happening,' he said, adding that the Ahmedabad shows contributed Rs 700 crore to the Gujarat economy. 'Ahmedabad's infrastructure has really improved… But getting into the city, there aren't enough flights. And around 75% of the people were coming from out of Gujarat. It was mathematically impossible to transport as many people into the city,' he said, adding that special support was necessary from the Indian Railways. He also addressed the potential losses from food and beverages. 'Gujarat has prohibition, so will people even come? Will people enjoy themselves? But it became the world's largest concert. Everybody came safely, they left safely. They didn't miss alcohol… Employment, hotel, airlines, food, travel, merchandise, spends in the city, we calculated what the average spend per-person in Ahmedabad was. The GST impact was Rs 72 crore, the overall impact was around Rs 700 crore, the direct impact was around Rs 250 crore,' he said, adding that the Ahmedabad show probably cost between Rs 30 crore to Rs 40 crore, minus artiste fees.
NDTV
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
WAVES 2025: BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani On Coldplay's Concert Ticket Fiasco
New Delhi: The ticket fiasco surrounding Coldplay 's Music Of The Spheres tour in India this January has been creating a lot of buzz. Things got so intense that Ashish Hemrajani, CEO and Founder of BookMyShow, was even summoned by the police. Now, Ashish has finally opened up about the chaos during a panel discussion with NDTV at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit. He was joined by Viraf Sarkari, Co-founder of Wizcraft International Entertainment and Vivien Lewit, Global Head of Artists at YouTube. Addressing the issue, Ashish Hemrajani said, 'There were a lot of things that were said during the booking phase about us. I think that is a little bit of maturity that is needed in the market. We are 1.4 billion Indians. It's a huge country. We had millions of people that were in the queue, trying to buy. In Bombay, it was 50,000 into three shows – that is 150,000. In Ahmedabad, it was about 110,000 into two shows – that is 220,000 tickets.' 'So we are talking about 370,000 tickets. Now, you know, there was a lot that was said. The queue was transparent. The token numbers were transparent. We have every customer's email ID, mobile number, device ID, transaction ID, and home address because we deliver the tickets to your home,' he added. Talking about the band's massive popularity and backing up the math behind the overwhelming ticket demand, Ashish Hemrajani said, 'So the supply-demand — if you see the numbers on YouTube today, you see the numbers of streaming for a band like Coldplay. They are the world's biggest band. They are the highest-ticketed band.' 'We have a large population, which is now a discerning, young demographic, which has disposable income. Where does the math go wrong? It's just that somebody didn't look at it. The appetite is there. The math is very much there,' he concluded. For the unversed, Coldplay had a total of five concerts in India between January 18 and 26. When the tickets went live on BookMyShow in September, millions of people flooded the platform, trying to book their spots. In no time, tickets were being resold on other sites at insanely inflated prices. Although BookMyShow claimed it had no involvement in the black market and even filed a police complaint to support that, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police still summoned CEO Ashish Hemrajani to explain what went wrong. NDTV is at the inaugural edition of the Waves Summit, currently on at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai. The event brings together the who's who of showbiz, creators, and everyone who's anyone in the world of entertainment in India and beyond. Catch all updates on from May 1 to May 4.
