HYDERABAD: While heavy police presence ensured that stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui was not disturbed during his show ‘Dongri to Nowhere’ that he performed at the Shilpakala Vedika here on Saturday, with a mixed reaction from the audience.
For their part, the Hyderabad police kept the 30-40 protesters who tried to disrupt the programme at bay quite easily -- after all, about 1,000 cops were on duty at the venue. Those protesters who were overenthusiastic in their slogan shouting were detained and shifted to various police stations.
Initially, 600 personnel were deployed, but the number was increased to about 1,000 after DCPs of the Cyberabad Commissionerate and the Madhapur SHO spoke at length.
Ticket sale for Faruqui’s show had begun three weeks back, after the Cyberabad police accorded permission and the 2,000 tickets were sold in no time.
Mixed reaction to Munawar show
The schedule of stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui’s show was announced only on Friday, on an Instagram page. While the event was slated to begin at 6:30 pm, the audience were asked to come in by 3 pm and were strictly asked to switch off their mobile phones.
According to sources, Faruqui was lodged in the Trident Hotel, close to the venue and reached the venue at 2 pm while the crowd were allowed in at 3 pm.
A bunch of students from Amberpet reached the venue late and were not allowed inside the auditorium.
Some of the audience members Express spoke to expressed disappointment with the material presented by Faruqui, while others said that they were happy that the show was held in the city.
An audience member, who bought two tickets paying Rs 3,000, said “We were asked to sit in the balcony and were told that we will be allotted seats, which never happened. However, we were glad to have attended the show as we wanted to prove a point.”
Syed Mudassir Aziz, an engineer working in Dubai, who came with four friends from Malakpet, said: “It was an utter disappointment. Munawar Faruqui is known for his jokes on politics and on this topic today. The show was about Muslim weddings and his friends.”