Nigam criticizes Jet Airways for action.By Dileep Thekkethil
What Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam thought would entertain his co-passengers on-board a Jet Airways flight has turned out to be a nightmare for the cabin crew members, as they got suspended for allowing the singer to use the airline speaker phone.
While speaking to The Times of India, Nigam said, “I have witnessed an elaborate fashion show in an aircraft. I have heard of small concerts happening in an aircraft”.
He added, “I have seen pilots and crew members cracking humorous jokes to loosen up passengers in other countries, which is so cool”.
He also said while all these are acceptable in the flight “to suspend crew members for asking me to sing on the address system when the seat belt signs were off, and no announcements were to be made, is nothing less than punishing someone for spreading happiness.”
He said he was hurt to hear the ordeal that the cabin crew had to undergo because of him and said “pity there’s no one to question such harshness except the media perhaps. Indians, need to loosen up.”
He also attacked the authorities saying that their action is an act of lack of common sense and “real intolerance”.
According to the airline officials, all five Jet Airways air hostesses have been suspended for allowing Nigam to sing through the flight speaker system. The incident leading to the suspension of the airline staff happened inside a flight that took off from Jodhpur to Mumbai on January 4.
Nigam sang two songs at the request of passengers: ‘Do pal ruka’ from ‘Veer Zaara’ and ‘Panchhi nadiya’ from Abhishek Bachchan’s launch movie ‘Refugee’.
The video of Sonu Nigam singing through the address system had earlier gone viral.
Airline authorities confirmed that singing and dancing on board a flight is not permitted. Two years back a private airliner had allowed crew members to play the song Balam Pichkari to celebrate Holi that ended up in a big controversy back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLupDyzOyxA