Lalisom
"Lalisom" Music BandFacebook/ Mohanlal

What was expected to be a top performance turned out to be a flop show!

Yes, actor Mohanlal, the face of Malayalam cinema, would have never expected such a bad debut for his dream music band "Lalisom". His fans gave a thumbs down, after the band's poor performance at the inaugural function of the 35th National Games at Greenfield Stadium, Kerala.

After a well-executed opening, the performance of the band, which came next, is being perceived as the worst by the public. Some videos also appeared online claiming that the performance was not live but recorded. The viral video cleared showed the actor was lip- singing for the recorded audio.

"The crowd were upbeat till the band came on. During the first two songs, they waited patiently thinking that things would get better. Then the booing started and many left the stadium soon. The show started off as a history of Indian cinema, but it soon ended up being just a collection of songs from Lal's films," Manu R, who was present at the stadium, told The Hindu.

Though there were many reports of Mohanlal charging ₹2 crore for the show, the actor denied it. Instead, he claimed that the the amount was charged for bringing many singers for the show and for the technical arrangements. He had also said that the show would be a tribute to the masters of yesteryear, including actors, singers and music directors of various film industries, from 1931 to 1980.

In reaction to the band's poor performance, the actor's Facebook official page and social media were flooded with insulting memes and comments that asked the actor to return the ₹2 crore that he purportedly charged.

An online campaign "‪#‎lalismgiveback2crore" was launched demanding the band to return the amount paid by the government. 

The Kerala government also received flak from the audience for paying a huge band for their debut performance and have cited that other popular bands like "Thaikkudam Bridge" or "Avial" don't even charge half of it.

Meanwhile on Saturday, rumours floated that "Lalisom" has been disbanded, but the team's coordinator and music composer denied them. He added that the next show of the band will be held soon and claimed that the National Games show was not the original idea behind "Lalisom" but was just a special one.  

It's not as if only the general public feels let down by the band's poor performance; even film directors Vinayan and Jude Antony Joesph called it disappointing.

In an intended pun, some critics used the Facebook acronym 'LOL' as a prefix for the band and named it "Lolism". 

Here are some of the reactions on social media after "Lalisom" performance:

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