Imagine being at a club in the hottest part of the city. The floor thrums with the bass as the DJ, who’s donned an Anonymous mask for his Halloween costume, raises the tempo. The fog machines expel a ghostly mist and the pumpkin-hued drinks are flowing... and then the party stops, because of the 11 pm or midnight curfew. But before this could become a serious conundrum, resourceful young people have simply shrugged their shoulders and come up with their own solutions.
And just because Halloween was last night, doesn’t mean the spirit (pun intended) doesn’t carry into the weekend ahead. Dhruv Sharma, a 28-year-old techie, agrees and points out that it is not as though offices will let you off work early for trick-or-treating or to go to the club. Instead, Dhruv and a few of his friends are heading to a farmhouse near Medak for a night with close friends. “We don’t want to worry about issues such as inebriation and then a late night commute after that. Then there’s the freedom to dress how you want because you’re going to be that much more comfortable around your friends rather than a bunch of strangers. I guess it depends from people to people. Then, of course, the cost for the night. Why would I spend ₹3,000 on a night out when I’ve already spent money on a costume?”
The farmhouse and house party entertainment is largely affected by the decoration as well. Much of the fun comes from people setting their own scene — but nothing to the extent of those time-lapse DIY videos one sees on Facebook. “I think you can set a scene while being understated. You don’t need a fog machine or a black light... unless you’re a big shot and have the budget for it,” laughs Srilekha Joseph, whose farmhouse is the setting for Dhruv’s party. “I hope Indian brands come up with eco-friendly decorations which are either plantable or biodegradable... we have a lot of reusable options but trends keep changing and that’s part of the fun.”
The dress-up game
Going out, though, just isn’t the same anymore for Varsha Kukunoor, an engineering post-graduate at IIT Hyderabad. “I’m not from Hyderabad so when I moved here from Mumbai, I was pretty disappointed at the 11 pm curfew with most of the clubs! And the real Halloween fun starts at around 2 pm and no one wants to go home before midnight on such a day... especially when you’ve dressed up so much,” she laughs.
- Three years ago, big name clubs in Hyderabad used to make anywhere between ₹3 to ₹15 lakhs on a single Halloween party night. Now, given the curfew crackdown and a decline in the general interest in heading to a club, some are barely hitting the ₹2 lakh mark.
- Contrastingly, young people planning their own parties are spending a collective maximum of ₹7,000 for food, drinks, costumes and other amenities for a farmhouse fest or house party.
A saving grace for the Halloween weekend late-nights has to be the MetroRail and Varsha agrees. “On a night when venues in the city charge ₹4000 per person without blinking, it’s nice to know there’s an ₹45 option to get home after that. I know I’ll get some weird looks going from Malakpet to Durgam Cheruvu but that’s the best part! I would love to hear people gasp and think ‘Where is Chandramukhi going?’ Not my costume this year but just a thought. My costume isn’t ready but I’ve noticed the Internet has been a recurring theme for the past few years.. so that’s the general direction for my outfit this year.” Costumes for Halloween trending have been around memes such as Pepe the Frog or Kombucha girl.
As Varsha said, many do not want to venture into the comic book space as much as they used to — with the expertise of Comic Con India cosplayers as a benchmark, there’s just so much more room to play when it comes to Halloween. Dhruv explains, “The idea of Halloween is essentially to scare and, I’ve always tried to stay true to that. The horror movie and series space has been huge. My sister will be inspired by the Auladhchakra concept in Pari with Anushka Sharma. That said, Halloween culture can change and move away from cliched costumes, which also changes the way we party.”
But not everyone feels the pressure to dress up; one does need efficiency of movement in their costume. Aishwarya Reddy has been a loyal Halloween-o-phile most of her life but she’s been frugal when it comes to spending on her costumes. “At a Halloween party — which, for me, is a night of socialising in a place where horror and the paranormal are celebrated — I want to be able to dance and play silly games like Twister or Eight Ball, without worrying if my costume will tear and cry about how much I spent,” she admits, “I want Halloween parties to be about pumpkin carving and really getting into the spirit of things too. Plus, after the parties, you tend to see the floors just covered in parts of these Halloween costumes which just become relics of the night! It’s such a waste and no one wants to clean that up.”
