KOZHIKODE: Double Oscar winner A R Rahman was paid a whopping Rs.1.5 crore for conducting the `Jai Ho' live concert here on Sunday, organisers said.

`We booked the show paying Rs.1.5 crore', P V Abdul Wahab, MP and Chairman of Kerala-based NGO `Keraleeyam', organisers of the show, told reporters here.

Touted to be the most expensive musical extravaganza held in recent times, it had netted sizeable profit, he said, adding the exact details could be made available only after the completion of audit of accounts.

A major portion of the proceeds had been earmarked for the rehabilitation of HIV-positive children.

Earlier, organisers had claimed that they had sold tickets worth Rs.Seven crore for the programme, which was witnessed by music lovers from all over the country and abroad.

The `Jai Ho' live concert held here was the first of 39 such shows planned by the music maestro during the next five years in various destinations across the world with the next show scheduled to be conducted in Abu Dhabi.

Wahab said Keraleeyam, which was providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs.15,000 per annum to about 450 HIV-positive children, was now in a position to help another 1,000 children following huge flow of donations.