Partygoers in and around the city will have to start winding up New Year's Eve celebrations minutes after the euphoria that erupts at the stroke of the midnight hour has subsided
Partygoers in and around the city will have to start winding up New Year's Eve celebrations minutes after the euphoria that erupts at the stroke of the midnight hour has subsided. But that is not all. In all likelihood, the city will also have to do without big names from the entertainment business to enthral it as it ushers in the New Year.
The police are adamant on sticking to the 12.30 am deadline for hotels, restaurants and nightclubs, especially as terror threats are an ever-present reality these days. So, hotels, nightclubs and event organisers do not want to spend lakhs of rupees on Bollywood celebs and famous musicians or DJs at New Year parties as they say the early deadline does not make it economically viable.
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"It does not make sense spending money on booking big artists when they will only get to perform for an hour-and-half," said Vishal Gore of Dream Theatre Entertainment. "We will not make any profit."
Atif, who works with productions, says economically it is not a viable option. "We want to stick to city DJs, performers and musicians. At least this way, we will not end up spending too much money only to find out we are not able to recover the cost," said Atif.
Even popular nightclubs at five-stars will have either in-house DJs or, at the most, DJs from Mumbai.
Gangadhar Panniker, spokesperson, Scream, Le Meridian Hotel, said as they wanted to stick to the rules, there would not be doing anything fancy. "Along with our in-house DJ we have only one DJ from Mumbai as we have to shut by the deadline," said Panniker.
Chandan Thakur, assistant food and beverage manager, Westin, said the focus would be on food. "We have a few performers from the city and Mumbai who will be playing at the lounge bar, but the focus is on a wide buffet," said Thakur.
Many event organisers have even stopped doing New Year parties as they say there is hardly any profit in it now.
"Organsing New Year parties is a risky and expensive affair. After all this hassle with the deadline, there is no point doing parties as we do not earn any profits," said Siddhant Chopra, an event organiser. "So I have stopped doing it, but we do organise Christmas parties with local DJs."
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