Forget Bollywood numbers, swing on some fusion during the Navratri nights. Iknoor Kaur writes on the music makeover
You might spend nights hopping clubs and discs in the city till the wee hours for the rest of the year but a part of calender remains reserved for dandia nights. Organisers make sure that the nights get rocking with each passing year. So the trends change and so does the music. This dandia you might get to see your favourite telly stars lesser than last year but music will surely be better and improvised.
True to the tradition
From the barefeet garba with thalis we have moved onto an improvised version of the dance as well as the festival. Preeti Sinha, member of the Gujarat Samaj at Worlds of Wonder, Noida, says that she and her other friends from the community do not support the trend and are working towards bringing the tradition back. “I believe in being traditional. However, it is a changing world and so many people are part of the dandia night now that the choices of people tend to clash. That is why we have kept a combination of both traditional and modern. We have Bollywood and traditional Gujarati numbers. In addition to that we have put aside one and a half hours to showcase the dandia in a traditional way. It is basically a puja and we want to sustain that culture. The purity of the festival must be retained,” she shares.
Mohit Sawhney, general manager of Adventure Island has enrolled a group of 48 boys and girls from Surat who will be performing traditional garba at their ‘let’s Go Dandia’ festival. “These boys and girls who will be coming are all eight to 12 graders who are professionally learning garba. This brings in the youth factor as well as the traditional bit. However, to not make it a completely traditional affair which a lot of people find boring, we also have our DJs,” he says.
Wholesome package
The festival is not going to be all about dance. Dandia Dhamaal, organised by Abhishek, will offer guests a wholesome package. Abhishek has called upon celebrity singers and popular comedian Sunil Grover aka Gutthi to draw crowd to the event. “We are catering to different choices. We have called a band called Desi Elusive. We also have singers from Gujarat for those who love traditional beats and then we have Gutthi for mass entertainment,” he explains.
Bharat Gauba from Worlds of Wonder has introduced rap to his party. He elaborates, “This time there is rap, western music, Bollywood mixes and traditional dandia as well. We have tried to introduce everything to the festival so that maximum number of people connect to it.”
Stay safe
In the last year, laws related to women safety have stricter. There is also a limitation on playing music till late night in the public places. So expect most dandia nights to conclude by 10 pm. “I think 10 is a decent time to wrap up and people can go back home safely,” says Abhishek and Bharat adds, “We make sure that the crowd that gets in is good and not vulgar. We have some fixed rules for entry as well.”