(From top) Geetal Patel plays Madhuri Dixit at Tantra; Filipino girls belt out English and Hindi hits at Sourav’s; painter Partho Shaw makes a point to actress June and percussionist Tanmoy Bose. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

The Main Bhi Madhuri Night at Tantra went just as expected, with the jhatkas and matkas being performed to perfection by the 20-something Geetal Patel, who wowed the crowds till the wee hours.

Starting off just before midnight, she took no time to kick up a storm with striking dance moves from Chane ke khet mein number from Anjaam.

As the clubbers got into the groove, Geetal promised to do all that Madhuri did, minus the magic. The next act began an hour later with the highlight: Ek do teen? In the same pink short skirt with a short top and hair tied in a ponytail on one side of her head, she left the audience crying for more. On the bar top, Geetal danced her way amid the pink lights, set specifically for this Tezaab number with which the star was born.

The hour-long breaks were filled with some spirited dancing by the party goers themselves as they jived to their usual nightclub numbers ? Superstar, Kabhi aar kabhi paar and so many more.

In fact, after the Christmas and New Year binges, the city had been going a little slow on clubbing, but if the Saturday night fever was any indication, Calcuttans are ready to rock, again.

Just when the twinkle-toed brigade was beginning to miss ?Madhuri?, she was back with a bang. Her last performance, an hour later, was a flawless take on Choli ke peechhe. The lighting, a dull red, set the bar top ablaze as Geetal did the notorious jig that had kept the Khalnayak number at the top of every chart.

The idea of translating Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon to a night-in at Tantra was rather intriguing and it turned out to be quite different from the usual song-and-dance routines at the city?s most popular disco.

The fact that no remixes were allowed, and that the originals were good enough to get the gang going, was refreshing.

And to give Geetal her due, she did her best to fill the dancing shoes of Madhuri Dixit, no less.

Filipino funk

They have come from the Philippines and do not have even the flimsiest connection with Hindi. But don?t be surprised if the band members ? two girls and a boy ? break into Dil to pagaal hai or Disco 82 without missing a beat.

Hot Shot, the band that is wooing revellers at The Prince Of Cal, in Sourav?s, can mouth the Hindi numbers with the same ease as they do Superstar and Turn me on.

?Live bands have become a part of the pub and bar culture in the city. But most bands cannot even sing properly in English, leave alone Hindi. So we decided to train them in some of the hit Hindi songs to strike an immediate chord with the party people here,? said Kanishka Mazumdar, CEO of Sourav?s, the latest Park Street address.

Loida, Jerry Gleen and Mylai Bham are the three hot members of the band who have come down from Philippines. Previously, they have performed in pubs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, China and Singapore.

?The response to the Hindi numbers has been tremendous. Somehow, people do not expect us to be good at that but we are catching them off-guard on this,? said Loida.

But while a section of diners drools over the sensuous sirens, do not forget to dig into the new array of snacks ? Fish Anarkali, Spicy Chicken Bullet, Mini Chicken Brochette, Gosht Adrak Ke Panje, Tilai Tandoori Aloo? The price tags read anything from Rs 180 to Rs 200.

Woman power

An evening of the women, for the women, though not strictly by the women. The culmination of a three-day art camp, titled The Feminine Mystique ? The Many Moods of Women, saw museum expert Reshmi Chatterjee, percussionist Bikram Ghosh, singer Francis Lepcha, actress June and writer Sahana Chatterjee singing songs, reading verses and making music to depict a woman and her moods.

Organised by The Calcutta Salon at Sahaya Niketan, the 40-minute show was compact and entertaining. The setting, made colourful with the canvases painted by artists through the days, was perfect for the finale.

Sunil Das, Rabin Mandal, Prakash Karmakar and Dipali Bhattacharya were among the artists who lent a hand for the cause.

The objective was to portray the various facets of a woman. Thus while Reshmi Chatterjee held forth on the importance of equality among the two sexes while reciting verses from Kaji Nazrul Islam?s Nari, Sahana Chatterjee read out excerpts from Ibsen?s play A Doll?s House.

?The idea was to project a strong woman, who walks out of her marriage because it no longer works for her,? says Sahana. June, on the other hand, read out The Gift of the Magi, intending to bring out the beauty in a man-woman relationship.

It was left to the men in the gathering to add rhythm to the repertoire. Singer Francis Lepcha belted out an apt Always a woman by Billy Joe, while Bikram decided to give his percussions a miss and played tracks composed by himself on a recorder instead.