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Journalism of Courage
REACH into the steel trunk and pull out those seven-inch stilettos. Slip in The Commodores, dust off the Polaroid shades, and slap on the Brylcreem. Then cruise to Polly Esther8217;s8212;Mumbai8217;s new shrine to the crystal ball era. Where you8217;re expected to break into the Funky Chicken, strut like Travolta and walk like an Egyptian. And, like any 8217;70s party worth its glitter, the disco doesn8217;t end till it8217;s time to board the first train home.
Disco? They don8217;t even call them discotheques anymore. And isn8217;t this the age of aggressive hip hop and mechanical techno?
Not if you8217;re part of the Retro Revival that8217;s hitting a dance floor next door. At Congos, designer Malini Ramani8217;s new club in Candolim, Goa, music from the 8217;70s and 8217;80s is the rule. 8216;8216;Trance is banned here; it8217;s soulless,8217;8217; says Ramani, an unabashed devotee of the decadent, bubbly-floweth-over decade. Even her creations have a disco feel. 8216;8216;I love the 8217;70s look and my clothes are very Studio 54: shiny, flamboyant and glitzy.8217;8217;
Middle-class mainstays like Pantaloon are cashing in as well. The garment retailer launched a line of brightly-hued, 8217;70s-style tops for women, and says they8217;re selling over 300 pieces around the country every day.
Upper-end lifestyle chain Be: will also incorporate 8217;70s silhouettes and styles8212;paisley prints, gypsy skirts and acid-toned shirts8212;in their upcoming collections. 8216;8216;Retro-influenced lines generate excitement that comes from reviving something that was once cool,8217;8217; says Subhashree Prasad, brand manager.
Bastions of resistance are crumbling fast. At Busaba, the hip South Mumbai lounge, it was sacrilegious to request anything but deep house8212;until recently. The demand for disco peaked on New Year8217;s eve. 8216;8216;I couldn8217;t believe it,8217;8217; says flummoxed owner Nikhil Chib, 8216;8216;People kept asking for It8217;s The Time To Disco.8217;8217;
The most popular song on the Kal Ho Naa Ho soundtrack was another savvy touch by director Karan Johar. 8216;8216;Retro8217;s cool in the West and when I was in Europe last year, all I heard was bands from the 8217;70s and 8217;80s,8217;8217; says Johar. 8216;8216;So I wanted a song with the word 8216;8216;disco8217;8217; in the title; I felt it would work.8217;8217; Johar also acknowledges that the film8217;s puerile G-U-J-J-U chant was influenced by the Village People8217;s classic, D-I-S-C-O.
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THAT 8217;70s SHOW
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| Ray Ban Aviators These rose, blue and yellow tints in white metallic frames can be yours for a cool Rs 3,390 Ambassador Avigo Watch out for the new, old Avigo in March8212;this one is even more retro than the Grand launched last year Back in Time Tag Heuer to Espirit, everyone8217;s hawking retro styles Brylcreem It once kept the puffs of cricketers and top stars in place. The brand has been revamped and its strong-hold-gel now ensures your spikes don8217;t flag Reebok Classic Preppy Union Jack and shiny white synthetic leather sneakers have made a big comeback |
The film8217;s music composers8212;Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy8212;were startled. Why go back in time when a majority of the audience never lived through the Disco Dancer era? But Johar was resolute and once the trio started working on the track, they realised it was a chance to revisit their youth and have some fun.
And It8217;s The Time To Disco is a half-minute crash course in the vintage 8217;70s sound: Barry White-like introduction, bumping keys, blaring trumpets, and 8216;8216;space jet8217;8217; effects. 8216;8216;It8217;s so authentic8212;down to the annoying telephone ring,8217;8217; says amused composer Ehsaan Noorai, 40. Johar obviously knew the power of remixed sound.
And any club that places its DJ cabin in the circular opening of a 20-foot neon guitar, and dishes out golden hits from the polyester period has a winning formula. Over a thousand couples in Mumbai paid Rs 7,500 for the chance to kick it at the 8217;70s-theme New Year8217;s bash at the JW Marriott8217;s nightclub, Enigma.8216;8216;Our clients are slightly older8212;and we give them what they want,8217;8217; says Bart Buiring, the hotel8217;s director of operations.
Yet the vintage music played at these retro round-ups has been given a modern twist. Most DJs add new elements to the original song, making it palatable for young clubbers too. 8220;Most bootlegs retain the original vibe but are backed by aggressive beats and strong baselines,8217;8217; says DJ Tushqa, of South Mumbai8217;s Red Light.
Tushqa spun for over 10,000 people in Goa recently. After a lukewarm response to his opening sequence of contemporary chart toppers, he experimented with a bootleg version of Thriller8212;sparking the masses to life, then rousing them to a frenzy.
Repackaged retro is big business today, and the global fashion industry has made a killing by reviving themes and motifs from the velvet age. 8216;8216;The look is so popular that you can buy it off the shelf8212;even mass brands can8217;t ignore it,8217;8217; says fashion stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania, who scoured New York8217;s flea markets for vintage elements for the It8217;s The Time To Disco costumes.
Even Reebok has introduced a Classic segment, exemplified by their distinctive Union Jack logo and all-white sneaker series. And few would dispute that Adidas8217;s retro line is infinitely more hip than its newer styles. 8216;8216;The moss green track suit with the three stripes and original logo is a powerful style statement,8217;8217; says Shroff-Adajania.
Some trend watchers attribute the renewed interest to the adventurous spirit that prevailed over the angel dust decade. 8216;8216;It was the most glorious period for fashion, and individuals were experimenting with clothes, drugs and lifestyles,8217;8217; says designer Manish Arora, who draws heavily from retro themes and imagery. 8216;8216;Today it8217;s widely understood that those years were about pushing boundaries and people want to celebrate that attitude.8217;8217;
Also, many city-bred Indians grew up on songs from the disco decade but with no access to a discotheque. They lived the champagne 8217;70s only through smuggled magazines, muffled audio cassettes and Saturday Night Fever.
Now the era is on tap. 8216;8216;There8217;s an urge to experience all the things we missed out on,8217;8217; says restaurateur Ash Chandler. 8216;8216;Retro clubs are filled with people enacting a past they didn8217;t really have.8217;8217;
