Nagpur: With the Supreme Court giving its go-ahead to dance bars, once again tipplers may be seen swinging to gyrating moves and titillating music. Soon after the ruling, some of the bars have plans to revive the business. For many others, the dance shows would only remain to be nostalgia.The management of Lahoree Deluxe, known to be the oldest dance bar in the city, has applied for a permission. Till the ban in 2005, there were around nine bars in the city where artistes performed to the tunes of an in-house orchestra.As Lahoree has applied for a permit and some are waiting for more clarity, for owners of most of the joints the dances are a thing of the past. Even the buildings which housed some of the bars are no longer there. Amid all the controversies, bar-owners from the city say, “Unlike Mumbai, dance bars used to be a decent affair here. Though, there is also grapevine about illegal strip tease shows taking place at certain joints.”Even as oldies are not sure whether Lahoree at Dharampeth or Yogi in Sadar was the first, they still recall the good old times. The latter is extinct now. The other bars in the city were — Needos at Dhantoli, Golden Spoon and Shere-e-Punjab at Sitabuldi, all had a thriving business. Those to come up later were Executive at Hingna, Spark Inn along Wardha Road and Sona Bar on Central Avenue.Sameer Sharma of Lahoree Deluxe said, “As soon as we came to know about the ruling online, we quickly applied for a permission to the commissioner of police. There are serious plans to start the whole venture all over again.” Sharma, who makes the next generation management, says even he remembers the times as a youngster.“Artistes used to come from Mumbai and even Chennai on weekly contract basis. The entry was free, but then the management had a discretion. Since Nagpur is a small city, we knew the people and troublemakers could easily be identified, the decent crowd was allowed,” said Sharma.Rajeev Jayswal, president of Nagpur District Permit Room Holders Association, who also had a dance bar, said he would prefer to go through the order first. Here things were not like in Mumbai. The patrons did not shower cash on the dancers. Even earlier, showering was prohibited under Tamasha and Mela Rules governed by the district magistrate, he said.Dhananjay Deodhar, who ran the Executive dance bar, has now wound up the business and shifted to Konkan where he runs a resort. “There were close to nine bars and each had a thriving business. Although, some joints had become a meeting point for anti-social elements also. Our bar was started in 1993 when Arvind Inamdar was commissioner of police. Dancers used to come from all over the country,” he says. “I remember that the management of Sher-e-Punjab near Regal Talkies had to secure an order from the high court after its application was repeatedly rejected. Based on the order, Sher-e-Punjab could get the permission to start a dance bar,” he says. Sher-e-Punjab, which had begun as a milk shake shop, is no longer there now.The ban changed the course of life for Anil Bhagat, a synthesiser player. It has not impacted his livelihood, but the old days will always be missed, he says.“We used to work at Lahoree Bar. After the ban came in, the entire team got dispersed. Each one began a new calling, and many even died during the years that followed. The troupe which had spent many nights performing together is hardly in touch with each other, he says.Bhagat recalls rich businessmen coming down from Amravati and other neighbouring towns on a daily basis to watch dance. “Many even lost their wealth. However, there was hardly any nuisance, the daunting presence of the gunman would keep everyone in control,” he said.

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