Bollywood Music Project 2026: Himesh Reshammiya’s Mic Cut Off After Shilpa Rao’s Set, Ayushmann’s Surprise Entry Steals the Night

The tenth edition of the Bollywood Music Project, organised by Eva Live at Mumbai’s Jio World Gardens on October 24, ended the way few festivals would choose to end: with the headliner’s microphone switched off. The line-up — Neeraj Shridhar, Roop Kumar Rathod, Anu Malik, Euphoria, Hariharan, Shilpa Rao and Himesh Reshammiya among others — delivered a night of nostalgia, but the talking points were the two sets cut short.

Earlier in the evening, Shilpa Rao, the second-last performer, saw her performance abruptly cut short, leaving the audience furious. Himesh Reshammiya, closing the festival, made up for the disappointment with a marathon set spanning his career — ‘Tera Surroor’, ‘Viraaniya’ from Namastey London, ‘Tanhaiyan’, the title song of Tere Naam, and later ‘Yahi Hota Pyaar’, ‘Hookah Bar’, ‘Soniye’ and ‘Jhalak Dikhla Ja’, among others. Midway through, his wife Sonia Kapoor joined him on stage, recited a poem, and then watched as he sang ‘Main Jahaan Rahoon’ and kissed her on the forehead — a moment that had the crowd going “Awwww”.

The night’s biggest surprise came when Ayushmann Khurrana suddenly appeared on stage, joining Himesh to promote their upcoming film Yeh Prem Mol Liya. Ayushmann told the cheering crowd he had once watched a Himesh concert around the time his debut film Vicky Donor released, and declared, “Lord Himesh is with us!” Fans demanded he sing ‘Pani Da Rang’; Himesh joked that he had never sung it himself, then let Ayushmann take the honours, before performing the title song of Yeh Prem Mol Liya.

Then came the awkward finale. Himesh, who had repeatedly joked about being given limited time, kept going past the event’s 10:00 pm closing time until the organisers switched off his microphone. He kept talking to fans even after it went dead, hoping his voice would carry — a pointed coda after what had happened to Shilpa Rao earlier.

Here is the Filmverse take: two microphones cut in one night is not a coincidence, it is a scheduling failure — festivals that book more stars than the clock can hold keep paying for it in goodwill. What saved the night was not the schedule but the artists: Himesh turned a cut-off into a joke the crowd was in on, and the Ayushmann surprise showed how live events have become film marketing’s most effective stage. A surprise appearance, a shared song, a “Lord Himesh” chant — that clip will travel further than any trailer for Yeh Prem Mol Liya. The lesson for organisers is simple: protect the artists’ time, because the audience notices exactly who gets silenced.

Source: Bollywood Hungama