Mumbaikars will find out what it’s like to live inside the popular Korean show Squid Game at a curated event this weekend
A team member dressed as a Squid Game guard at the Marine Drive promenade. PICS COURTESY/AAYESHA SHAIKH
There was a certain guilty voyeuristic pleasure in watching players fall down like dominoes to silenced gunshots in the popular Korean survival web series Squid Game (2021). “As long as it’s not happening in real life,” we had reasoned with our conscience. We spoke too soon. Just in time for the new season of the series slated for June 27, a Mumbai-based community is bringing the Squid Game experience to the city.
A team of 11 K-drama enthusiasts, led by 29-year-old research professional Ayesha Shaikh have been working on recreating the eerie atmosphere at an indoor venue in Goregaon. “I was watching an episode of the second season last year when I felt a strong urge to bring it to life in Mumbai,” Shaikh recalls.
A still from the newly released trailer for the third season of Squid Game. PICS COURTESY/NETFLIX ON YOUTUBE
Unlike the dystopian series where a secretive society scouts for players in dimly lit lanes, Shaikh settled for a less terrifying approach. At the Marine Drive promenade earlier this month, the team slipped into uniforms resembling the guards from the original show to spread the word. “We spooked a few people out, I think. They were equally shocked and amused,” the organiser admits. With more than 60 players already signed up for the upcoming challenge, we must say, Mumbaikars are a brave bunch.
Passers-by on the promenade are all eyes as the character walks past
Staying true to the rules of Squid Game, players will stick to a white and green dress code, complete with player number badges. Games from the show like Dalgona Candy, where players must carefully scrape a shape out of hard sugar candy will make a return, we’re told. “We wanted to keep the games as accurate as possible. The tug-of-war sequence from season is on the cards, and so is Mingle, where players must form groups of a specific number announced when a rotating carousel stops,” Shaikh reveals.
A moment from the Dalgona Candy game in the series
One of the concluding games will see players’ legs tied together as they navigate a pentathlon, much like the Six-Legged Pentathlon task from season two. The past few months of navigating Mumbai’s excavated roads and broken footpaths should be adequate practice for the players. It better be, or the six red guards and the infamous faceless Frontman stationed at the hall will escort them to their elimination.
The venue will feature the infamous doll that popularised the series worldwide
We hope you aren’t actually killing people off if they lose,” we quip, albeit a tad nervously. “Far from it,” says Shaikh. With their badges snatched and their symbolic deaths registered, players can continue to watch the game unfold, followed by upbeat dance performances by K-dance groups, The Sirens and Cygnus. “If they’re
hungry, they may even grab a bowl of hot ramen and sit back at our food partner’s booth,” Shaikh recommends. If there is indeed life after death, we hope it’s something like this.
Ayesha Shaikh
ON June 1; 2 pm to 5pm
AT Event Banquet, opposite Filmistan Studio, SV Road, Goregaon West.
LOG ON TO @kure8_eve_nts on Instagram
ENTRY Rs 749 (online); Rs 999 (walk-ins)
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