Mohanlal pained at allegations

Mohanlal’s band Lalisom had set tongues wagging when the group commanded `2 crore to perform at the opening ceremony of the National Games 2015, which Kerala is hosting.
At the same time, it was learnt that cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar agreed to be the guest at the game for free. However, none of the film fraternity had spoken out about the issue. Director Vinayan then broke the silence and lashed out against the actor in his Facebook page.“When I first heard about the news I felt immense respect for Sachin and pity for the Sports Minister; although the money belongs to the government, it is our tax money,” he wrote.
Vinayan went on to say that Lalisom is a band which has never performed before, formed by a Malayali music director and actor with his own songs to publicise himself and so they should consider getting such a stage as the National Games event as a big thing in itself. “An actor like Mohanlal deserves such a stage but to charge `2 crore for it is unacceptable.”
However, Ratheesh Vega, founder of the band, has retaliated to all allegations saying that people are making allegations without learning the truth. “Firstly, Mohanlal, as well as all of us, are extremely pained to hear about such allegations. As far as I know, Mohanlal hasn’t charged any specific remuneration, but only the costs. The National Games panel is not a set of fools to just pay us without a reason. Our band’s performance involves musicians like Karthik, Udit Narayanan, Alka Yagnik, Hariharan, Sujatha and M G Sreekumar. What if each of them was performing individually? There are expenses for everyone’s travel, transport and practice. Can we do all that for free?” he asks.
Ratheesh adds that the performance is not self-promotion but a tribute to Indian cinema and music and that Mohanlal is not in need of the government’s money. “You will understand all that only if you attend the performance. Mohanlal’s involvement in the games is not just about this performance. He is someone who can make this amount if he decided to do a film instead of taking part in the National Games event,” he says, adding that Sachin’s presence, which was done free, could not be compared with a full-fledged music performance. “Mohanlal too took part in all the marathons for free. Why is no one talking about it?” he asks.