In a country like India, where there isn't too much public space, restaurants have the responsibility of filling in as a cultural hub," Riyaaz Amlani shares. The thumping bass wafting out of the newly opened and India's first standalone antiSOCIAL — a nightlife establishment that so far had existed as an extension to Amlani's bar-chain, Social — has filled the air inside Todi Mills.

This is almost symbolic — like the music, the space itself is going to fill a glaring void left behind by the shuttering of the nightclub's earlier outpost in Khar, which used to be a suburban hub for indie gigs. Mayank Bhat, business head of the company, echoes this when he says that the team took three months to just come to terms with the abrupt shuttering. Since then, many F&B joints have opened their space up to music performances, but it all felt a little shoe-horned. You can't ask a five-piece band to play a live show if you don't have the right set-up, acoustics, and equipment.