Dandiya nights are a rage now. A Telegraph picture

Slip into your designer dress, hook up with your buddies, pick up two colourful sticks, rub shoulders with starlets like Shamita Shetty and Udita Goswami, and say It?s the time to disco to the console call?

As the countdown to Navratri ? the nine-night Gujarati festival coinciding with Durga puja ? begins, techno rules over tradition, disco scores over dandiya. From music to milieu, beat to behaviour, dandiya nights are now a Bollywood bonanza, calling the youth of every community.

Amidst all the glitz and glam, whispers of convention and custom can be heard from the likes of TEFL International at 3B, National Library Avenue, in Alipore, busy hosting a 10-day ?traditional dandiya workshop?.

The batches are divided into kids aged between five and 12 years, and 12 years and above, with classes held on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.

?We have been getting constant calls from people who want to learn how to play the dandiya, and play it right. We decided to stick to the traditional form because what is prevalent now is not dandiya at all,? says Shilpa Agarwal, franchisee of the Alipore address.

Till even six years back, Navratri was a community affair, where families would go out for a round of dandiya engaging the best of Gujarati orchestra and folk artistes.

Then, in stepped event managers who changed the face of the festival (facelift, in their dandiya dictionary). Now, around 10 big dandiyas dot the city?s festivalscape.

?The festival has become very commercial and big money is being spent. We have carried out several experiments in the past five years and they have paid off handsomely,? says Avinash Singhania of Encore, the event management company behind the RCGC dandiya last Navratri. ?Revenues are generated solely through ticket sales and so, value-additions to lure the crowds are a must.?

The swirl of the ghagra ? or the micro mini ? has moved out of family spaces to the Swabhumis and the star hotels, clubs and the stadiums. The ras garba orchestra and the traditional artistes have been swamped by DJs and dare-bare Bolly babes.

?We have a traditional orchestra on the sidelines but that is only to warm up the night. Once footfall swells, the DJs take over with the latest Bollywood beat,? says Vijay Bokadia of Moksh events.

Bollywood, of course, is the great leveller ? it doesn?t matter if you know the technique or the tradition, grooving to a familiar track is all that matters.

And now it?s not just a matter of sound but sight as well ? from big screen or small. Celeb draw can make or break a Navratri night these days.

?Currently, the characters from STAR Plus serials are the biggest attraction. If last year Rajiv Khandelwal (Sujal Garewal of Kahin to Hoga) was the sought-after star, this year Angad Khanna (Iqbal Khan of Kaisa Yeh Pyar Hai) tops the demand list. Sometimes it becomes difficult to control the crowd when stars drop in,? says Gurpreet Kaur Sethi of RGV Events.

That craze makes coughing up Rs 60,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh as appearance fee seem worth it for organisers who cash in on the footfall fiesta.

Navratri 2005 should see Shamita Shetty and Udita Goswami leading a hot pack into town.