Rage, rage against the dying of the light

The rage room is a great place for people to get pent-up emotions out of their system, but for those with calm personalities, it might not work so well. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Hammers hit objects hard, things fall to the ground, glass shatters. The sound of destruction is all around us. And no, we're not at a demolition site. We're reminded of Alia Bhatt's Kaira in Dear Zindagi (2016), who, while going through an upheaval in her personal life, enters a grocery store, hurls glass bottles of pickles to the floor, and leaves.

A group of friends from NM college are just wrapping up their group rage session. They come out sweaty and exhausted, but happy. When we ask them what it felt like, one of them says, "A stress buster, an emotional release, and overall very satisfying." "We can't smash a person's face," another says. We're reminded of several worthy candidates but we agree with him. "But this is a way to get rid of that frustration, in a very destructive way." It's like a workout, we are told, for the mind and body.

The concept of a rage room is new to the city; in fact, it was launched just this month. It is touted as Mumbai's first such destress venue - the earlier one was launched in Bengaluru last February. Located in a busy industrial area in Saki Naka, reaching the place alone is enough to get anyone worked up. We are given blue construction hard-hats, protective goggles, and an orange jumpsuit to wear. "Orange is the new black", we can't help thinking, as the personnel briefs us on basic safety practices.

Inside, the air-conditioned room is done up in orange themes and resembles a wall at the dead end of a street, scrawled over with graffiti - a very punk-rock, bad-guy aesthetic. Piles of broken glass - remnants of the earlier, very intense session - lie on the rubber-matted floor. In a corner, crates of glass bottles, cups, vases, tubelights, and glass bowls are laid out, ready to be destroyed. For a higher fee, you can choose to add TVs and balloons too.

Since we've opted for the 30 minutes package, we are allowed free rein to play music, smash things, and do as we like. We are initially hesitant to start smashing the glass cutlery - years of Indian parents giving you The Look when you break something is still ingrained in us - and instead opt to break a beer bottle, as the adrenaline-tinged notes of Linkin Park's From the Inside resounds over the speakers. These are harder to break; throw them against the iron wall erected for the purpose, and they bounce off with a sharp clang. We smash them with heavy hammers instead, and the glass shatters.

Ananya Shetty

Next, we try smashing tubelights, and they explode and shatter into minute pieces - a very satisfying sight to behold. What is harder is to muster the courage to hurl ceramic cutlery and glass bowls at the wall; we're not worked up enough. With every subsequent item that breaks, though, we gain a little more courage to let loose. We have not yet reached Kaira's level of anger, but we feel uninhibited.

While it may seem that angsty youth are the ones who need a space to vent, manager Somesh Howal says that senior citizens have also turned up to unleash years of repressed anger. A few come out of curiosity, to try something new. "I have seen many people come in here, sad and depressed, and leave in a lighter mood," he says. "Some also leave with tears in their eyes.

"Mumbai needs a unique way to let out their frustration and stress and also to have fun while doing it," says says Ananya Shetty, the founder. "This brings both fun and stress-relief under one umbrella. My goal is to take the rage room pan India, so that people have a safe space to vent out and embrace their emotions fully."

WHAT: Rage Room
WHEN: 10 AM to 8 PM (Mondays closed)
WHERE: Samhita Complex, Saki Naka
PRICE: Rs 499 per person
TO BOOK: rageroom.in