Clubbing it together

It doesn't look good. That is the assessment we get from people who are in the know about clubbing in the city, about what the future holds for neon-lit night-outs. Imagine this (it won't be easy, given how long it's been). Two strangers are dancing next to each other at a venue like Famous Studios, where a DJ is banging beats.

They are bumping shoulders, feeling the energy of the music. They bond, and head out to the smoking area, where they share a cigarette, that passes from lip to lip. It's unimaginable right now, if you think about it. The prospects of clubbing like that any time soon look as bleak as the landscape in sub-Saharan Africa. What, then, does the future hold for the idea of heading out at night for a party in a place like Mumbai, the city that never sleeps?

Vidit Chitroda

It's time to reboot the system. Let's face it. Those two strangers will not meet each other's eyes anytime soon. The movers and shakers who make the city's night owls fly are thus thinking of alternative models. There is an online initiative called Club Virtual that was conceived towards the end of March. Events organiser Amrit Multani started it from Toronto, Canada. His thought has hit Mumbai. The idea is for people to slip into clubwear, put on whatever lighting is available at home to set the mood, and log in through the Zoom app to be part of a congregation of people who are all in it to win it at a time when we are restricted to DJs playing through a streaming service called Twitch, which Multani chose to facilitate his plan. He tells us, "Originally, we are event organisers that operate around North America, while we have slowly been expanding towards Europe and Asia. With the Coronavirus stopping us, the last event we hosted was on March 14. It took us a few weeks to realise that clubbing would not come back for a few months at the very least, so we needed to think of something to keep our team occupied and our work flowing, even if it meant working for free."

Jai Anand

"Working for free." Absorb that thought, which will last for at least some months for DJs who would earn their bread and butter from strangers, and lovers, dancing next to each other in closed nightclubs. Vidit Chitroda, who used to host a music property called Madness Jams before the lockdown, tells us, "When I talk to artistes now, there are many who don't want to join the digital stream. They are like, 'Boss, main nahin kar payega. How am I expected to do this for an audience in front of a camera?'" How, indeed? The energy is missing. Plus, there's hardly any revenue for the performer. So, where's the motivation?

A screenshot of a guest at a Club Virtual party

It's missing, for venues as well. Jai Anand, the founder of Milkman, a firm that organised what was literally the last big gig where strangers in Mumbai had the privilege of rubbing shoulders with each other at a proper night-out, in Famous Studios on February 28, tells us, "Think of the cops. If they know that there is an event happening in their neighbourhood, how can they take the risk?" The authorities, he's saying, have rave parties - like the one he hosts - as the least of their priorities. That's why venues have their hands tied, even more than DJs whose job it is to move their fingers across a controller. Let's take the example of a place that can host 500 people. Tomorrow, or whenever things open up, its capacity is going to be reduced to 50. Things don't look good. Let's face it. We are living in a phase of our lives where the biggest names in the Indian music industry are charging '10 lakh. For what? For a mere online performance. TINA. There is no alternative. That is the answer for now.

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