Here's how a sleepy little village launched Mumbai's famous dance bars

Raigad Maharashtra Some 35 years ago a sleepy little village of Khalapur five kms from Khopoli on the old MumbaiPune national highway would magically come alive at dusk CinderellalikeThe narrow streets would be jammed with fancy cars and motorbikes honking for space Revellers from Mumbai Pune Nashik and even Goa came there to spend some happy hours at its famed dance barsThe first such dance bar considered the best and the biggest attraction was Baywatch popular long before the American teleserial by the same name in the 1990sStrategically situated just off the MumbaiPune highway and later even the MumbaiPune Expressway which came up nearly two decades later vehicles taking a bypass in the mofussil darkness of Khalapur were barely noticed or missedThe dancers girlswomen aged between 1535 were transported from predetermined locations in Mumbai Thane and other places in airconditoned deluxe buses to Khalapur by dusk when all the fun startedUnique to the maximum city which never slept scores of young girls or women gyrated to deafening Bollywood numbers with colourful lights a hazy airconditioned atmosphere reeking of cigarette smoke liquor perfumes and foodThe patrons were mostly youth or wealthy businessmen tourists both domestic and international who enjoyed an interactive session with the dancers by showering them with money or garlands of currency notes of various denominations occasionally going upto Rs 1000 notes for special dancersThen on Independence Day in 2005 the Maharashtra government struck like lightning banning them forcing the colourful dance bars to become silent and barrenAt one stroke an estimated 12 lakh dancers in the 2800 legal and as many unauthorized dance bars mainly in Mumbai Thane Navi Mumbai Raigad Pune and the state highways besides a few lakhs of supporting staff and thriving allied business were thrown onto the streetsAt its height some of the topnotch dancers prospered and some like the enchanting Tarannum were raided by the income tax department loosening up lakhs of rupees as taxOften the topend dancers arrived at work in their deluxe chauffeured vehicles private armed security and even a secretary to collect the raining currency notes showered on them by delirious patronfansHowever for a majority of the rest their plight was similar to what was shown in Chandni Bar the 2001 national awardwinning movie with the central theme of dance barsAfter making a somewhat neat bundle for the evening around a few thousand rupees most dancers returned home by the same buses before sunrise the next day Some of course had their own side businesses going departing independently courtesy regular cabbies approved by the hoteliersAt Khalapur village some 500700 outside girls were seen coming daily for the evening Although the business brought obvious prosperity to the locals some from the predominantly farming community raised objections saying the business was against local traditions and cultureThere were also charges of prostitution thrown at dance barsEventually such objections found echo among politicians The then home minister of Maharashtra the late RR Patil ordered that the bars be shut down The once enticing village luring patrons from the highway with its colourful fairylights was reduced to a dark decrepit locality shunned by one and allIt took the courts more than ten years to restore the business Although the state government says it will move a review petition the Supreme Courts Thursday decision was welcomed by the hotel industry and the dancers associationAdarsh Shetty president of the Indian Hotels amp Restaurants Association which had challenged the ban in the court urged the government not to consider dance bars as a social evil but as an opportunity to attract tourism revenue to the city and stateLook at the vibrant night life places like Bangkok Shanghai or Istanbul and other cities worldwide offer What does Mumbai have for tourists barring local sightseeing and good food After that nothing Shetty saidHe alleged that though hundreds of restaurants had applied for licences the Mumbai Police sat on them for years though they collected all types of revenues from the hoteliersShetty claimed that with proper encouragement the dance bars could prove to be forex earners for the government with many foreigners visiting working or living in the countryWomanist Party of India founder Varsha Kale who spearheaded the cause of the thousands of dancers rendered unemployed is hopeful the state government will not challenge the latest Supreme Court reliefAfter the closure in 2005 there was no rehabilitation or jobs for the jobless dancers We hope this government does not challenge it like the previous one Kale saidHowever the apex court has also made it clear that the dance performances should not be remotely explicit or show any kind of obscenity Perhaps a middle path can be found by the two sides