Bloody brawls on the rise in bars?
There has been a definite rise in drunken revelry of late in Chennai’s nightclubs
By : arpitha rao
Update: 2015-10-26 07:37 GMT
As much fun as it is to go to clubs and party with friends, one invariably has to keep an eye out for signs of trouble. Imagine going to a nightclub with your pals, and running into a group passing insults or cracking jokes at you. Would your first reaction be to give them a full-on desi punch, or silently walk away? Apparently, landing a fist on the other person is what our hot-blooded boys believe in. An incident that shocked the country was the death of the 22-year-old boy in Gurgaon who was beaten to death with hockey sticks for asking the DJ to play his choice of songs.
An actor in Chennai with a reputation for bar fights, recently made catcalls that irked a guest, resulting in a drunken, bloody physical fight. “There was blood everywhere but none of us dared stopping the boys because we were scared they would hurt us too with the broken bottles,” says R. Vasanth, one of the eye witnesses of the actor’s brawl with the party-goer. “It could have been fatal. Chennai is safer than other cities, but if you must go clubbing, I suggest you go with a group of friends” he adds. DC speaks to some of Chennai’s nightlife enthusiasts to hear their take on the violence.
Bablu, the business manager of a well-known nightspot, contradicts Vasanth’s statement. “Throughout my career, I’ve never seen a physical fight break out in the tapas bar I work at. In fact, we mostly only have regulars who drink and dine — they’re all like family,” he says. “Chennai is far from becoming like any other city, and is certainly nowhere close to fatal accidents occurring in party destinations.”
Saakshi Agarwal, a cine actress in the south says that she has seen a lot of fights happen in pubs and clubs, and has been part of one herself. “Fights break out because a guy tries to flirt with a girl, or two guys bump into each other while dancing and neither wants to apologise. Once, a couple of non-Chennaiites visited a club I was at and they tried getting physically close to me. I started walking away but the group wouldn't back down, and things turned ugly after that. Chennai is overall safer than other cities because the party-goers here are more sensible.”
“I have seen fights in city clubs so bad that the injured person has to be rushed to hospital and the police have to intervene,” says playback singer-rapper Krishna Iyer. He adds, saying, “However, this is not an everyday occurrence. Chennai may not be the best party destination, but it is the safest — in fact I call it ‘Vaazhavaikum Chennai’,” he concludes.