MEGHNA MAITI
Mumbai
Ominous red neon lights, mysterious tunnel, nasty stares above the overflowing beer bottles- strange music from looming speakers and even stranger dance movements of the bar girls, like a ritual dance around a crowd in which even a mighty will turns vulnerable. The view of the constantly passing dance women by their rupee-flashing clients grows so magical that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to be there beyond everything; and behind the bars; creating a different world.
One might expect such an illicit world in Amstardam, Pattaya or Los Angeles. But this time it’s Mumbai- the dimly lit masti hubs that were shut down by the state government. Almost a decade later, to be more precise- eight years, the Mumbai dance bars are mounting a comeback, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday. The court upheld an earlier Bombay High Court order that allowed dance bars to reapply for licences.
Industry experts say the dance bars revival is largely tied to the soaring popularity of Mumbai night life and employment of women as dancers, waitresses and singers. “Mumbai night life had lost its lustre because of moral policing. This move had also come in the way of tourism in the city. The permission for re-opening would make way for may other colourful aspects of Mumbai night life,” Kamlesh Barot, past president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (western India) told Financial Chronicle.
The government of Maharashtra in 2005 banned performances in dance bars, mainly watering holes and taverns where owners pay dancers. The Association of Dance Bar Owners, the Bharatiya Bargirls Union and The Indian Hotel and Restaurants Association were among those who challenged the state government’s ban in 2005. The state government said there were 307 licensed dance bars in Mumbai with around 4,300 women employees.
"This was an example of government's hypocrisy, and the Supreme Court has proven that. Has anyone cared about those girls who lost their jobs?" Manjit Singh, president of the Mumbai Bar Owners Association, told CNN-IBN news channel.
In Mumbai, night life had shifted to small pubs, discotheques and one-off rave parties, illegal spaces, according to industry experts. “This would help all those women who have lost their livelihood. It will definitely bring in more international tourists,” said Dinesh Naik, restaurant and banquet manager of Fern Meluha Residency, a Mumbai-headquartered hotel.
Following the top court’s ruling Tuesday, restaurants and bars will have to apply for new licenses before they restart dance performances, Veena Thadhani, a lawyer for the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association told Wall Street Journal.
ENDS
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