CHENNAI, India – A Milos MR5 roof system was recently used for a high profile open-air concert by Indian star A.R. Rahman, staged at the YMCA Grounds in Chennai, India. The multideck layered stage was designed by Bollywood set designer Varsha Jain. This, along with the Milos roof system, trussing, rigging and assorted scaffolding and structures, were supplied by Chennai-based Men At Work Stagecraft Management Pvt Ltd and project manager Mankaran Singh.
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CHENNAI, India – A Milos MR5 roof system was recently used for a high profile open-air concert by Academy Award-winning Indian star A.R. Rahman, staged at the YMCA Grounds in Chennai, India. Organized by Tamil broadcaster Jaya TV, the event was attended by 30,000 fans. The multideck layered stage was designed by leading Bollywood set designer Varsha Jain. This, along with the Milos roof system, trussing, rigging and assorted scaffolding and structures, were supplied by Chennai-based Men At Work Stagecraft Management Pvt Ltd and project manager Mankaran Singh.
The roof system measured 24m x 18m x 13m (78.7 ft w x 59 ft d x 42.6 ft h). Various trusses were hung from its main grid, including six straights in varying lengths and four circular trusses ranging from 4m to 8m (13.12 ft to 26.24 ft) in diameter. The stage’s multiple deck levels were accessed via a series of scissor and mechanical stage lifts. Seven tons of equipment was flown in the MR5 roof including a large lighting rig designed by LD Becket Joseph Tundatil. This featured nearly 200 moving lights, strobes, LED battens, more than 300 PAR cans and two Barco projectors.
A.R. Rahman’s production company insisted on having a Milos roof system for the show as they wanted a name brand recognized for its strength and reliability, particularly following the collapse of the system they had used in a 2010 incident.
Explains Mankaran Singh, “A.R. Rahman’s production manager specified a safe, fully certified, state-of-the-art outdoor roof system with good load-bearing capacities that conformed to the European standards. The Milos roof ticked all the boxes.” He added that they were one of only two companies in India able to offer a fully certified and proper outdoor roofing solution, having invested in its Milos roof in 2012 following a long period of researching the globally available options.
“We chose Milos because no other manufacturer could match their pricing, quality and after-sales support,” says Singh. Before making the purchase, Singh and his team were invited to the Milos Guangzhou manufacturing facility in China to evaluate the products and the company’s production capabilities. “We were hugely impressed,” says Singh.
He thinks that the best features of the MR5 roofing system are the quality of the trussing together with the modular design of the roof and the speed at which it can be erected by a skilled crew. “We have owned other trussing in the past so we can easily tell the difference.” The structure’s ability to withstand wind speeds up to 60 mph is another advantage, he says.
