Mumbai’s dance bars return in new guise as “orchestra bars”
Mumbai’s dance bars return in new guise as “orchestra bars”
In Mumbai, the city of dreams and the city that never sleeps,
dance bars were a climacteric
part of its nightlife, which was articulated in the much-lionized
Madhur Bhandarkar 2001 directorial ‘Chandni Bar”.
At that time around in one of his interviews, Bhandarkar had articulated that he had barely scratched the surface of the muck that infested the lives of women who entered the trade.
Adding that he had only filmed as much as the audience could stomach and even that was hard to watch, despite stunning performances by Tabu and Atul Kulkarni.
In 2005, the newfangled history of dance bars transformed when the then Home Minister RR Patil issued orders for a ban on them articulating that they were exploitative and that efforts need to made to rehabilitate the women who were pushed into Mumbai’s underbelly due to abject poverty.
Now, after 5 years, Courts have quashed Patil’s move following the re-emphasization by the
Supreme Court in January 2019 that the state cannot take exception to staging dance performances in bars, dance bars have returned albeit in a new form as “orchestra bars”.
These hubs of entertainment are less glorified; as they function clandestinely and the women who dazzle and step under the bright lights, do so of their own conation. The city, as of now has around 250 licensed (and some unlicensed) orchestra bars.
It could be defined as ‘Old wine in new bottle’. While, under the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurant and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (Working therein) Act, 2016, orchestra bars are supposed to have separate stages for the orchestra and the dancers, in reality, these establishments are not dissimilar to the erstwhile dance bars where scantily clad young women danced in front of patrons, who showered money on them, and had one-to-one conversations with clients.
Some of the high-profile orchestra bars operate reminiscent of the golden era.
All major establishments have a front entry mostly on theground floors, which house a regular bar and restaurant, but the real entertainment that attracts the rich men who root for the fluid moves of dancers and the crowd gather on the first floor.
Entry to this vicious haven isn’t easy as a patron has to undergo major scrutiny at the ground floor, a newbie does not get easy entry; he has to be accompanied by a regular patron of the bar.
Bouncers guard another entrance; the passage behind this door leads you to the stairs to the first floor.
At some bars like in Dadar and parts of South Mumbai, there are separate entrances for regulars.
Inside is a new world, a large room bathed in flickering laser lights fitted along upper and lower portions of the walls move with ’90s Bollywood hits playing in the background.
There are two small sofas by the orchestra on the stage for the bar dancers to rest while big, comfortable sofas are lined up along the sides of the walls for patrons.
Special wealthy patrons are seated at small tables in the middle of the room as they are known to splurge sizable amounts, that go up to lakhs in one evening, on the bar girls.
The bars warm up after 11:30pm. Enter at any time earlier than that, one will witness barely two to three of the 25-odd tables occupied, with a singer belting out Bollywood favourites.
As the evening dawns, dancers aged between 20 and 30, togged up in shiny lehenga cholis and sarees, emerge. Most tables getnoccupied close to midnight. Eventually, patrons ask for small change and bundles of ₹20 or ₹50 currency notes are provided by the staff at the bar.
Eventually, the stage gets crowded with a swirl of girls with patrons showering cash on them. At peak hour the floor of the hall is covered with currency notes as young members of the bar staff hurriedly scoop them up to stack them in bundles to be deposited with the manager of the bar. The booty is eventually distributed among the performers.
The bar is never cash-strapped. As patrons run out of their desired denominations of cash, fresh bundles are brought from the bar. Women urge the new patrons to join them on the dance floor as if to break ice. The dancers keep a close watch on the patrons and lure the customers who watch them closely.
As the night advances, alert men are stationed outside the bar to keep a watch on patrolling cops.
No sooner they spot men in khakhi, they send the word inside. The dancers immediately stop their performances and quietly sit on the sofas near the stage. Money strewn on the floor is swept up in bags.
Suddenly, the inside of the bar is back to being what it was designed for; an orchestra bar.
The constables take a look around, click a few selfies from different angles, reportedly to send to their bosses as confirmation that no prohibited activity was going on in the bar and everything was according to the rules.
For an entry to the space, Good looks are a predominant criterion for young women..They are all within the age of 30 and speak fluent English.
As per one of the dancers at a Central Mumbai bar, she chose for the dance profession as her sister needed to undergo a surgery that requires over
₹6 lakh. Another 20-year-old, who has been pursuing a course in fashion design, said, that initially, she wanted to pursue a career as a designer, but her family is unable to support her education.
According to Varsha Kale, president of the Bhartiya Bargirl’s Union, with the restriction of dance time and number of women allowed to perform, many dance bars have refused to return into business.
The ones that function are not the dance bars but orchestra bars or ladies’ bars where the girls sing. The bar owners prefer hiring good-looking girls for singing instead of the professional good singers who may not be good-looking. When there is a raid, these girls switch roles to become singers.
In accordance to the law,
Dance bars were banned in Maharashtra in August 2005 by adding Section 33A to the Maharashtra Police (Amendment) Act, 2005.
This prohibits all types of performances in eating houses, permit rooms and beer bars. The objective was “to secure public order, morality, dignity of women, and reduce exploitation of women including trafficking of minor girls.
The state government then shut down all the bars though many of them continued to flourish till as late as 2011, in a clandestine way in the city and its outskirts.
Reportedly, When the ban was imposed the city alone had around 700 dance bars at their peak in April 2005, though only 307 of those were legal.
The bars provided employment to around 1,50,000 people, including about 80,000 bar girls.
News Edit K.V.Raman
