The trend of hen parties that began in cosmopolitan India cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, were amply supported by the presence of many lounge bars and pubs that were safe venues to host such pre-wedding events with professional bouncers and a discreet management ensuring privacy and fun, along with anonymity for the guests.
However, in the early part of the decade, bachelorette parties in India were largely private affairs and rarely publicized until The Times of India did a feature on Hen parties being equivalent to stag bashes. The national newspaper focused on the growing trend of more women in favor of hen parties styled on the pattern of bachelor parties, including the stripper show and the reports published in 2005, took India – and the rest of the world – by storm.
This series of reports mainly centered around skimpily clad PYTs (pretty, young, things) dancing away in their bare minimum and highlighted the presence of male strippers who just stopped short of doing a Full Monty, free-flowing booze to reveal the craze that had caught up with the middle and upper-classes that threatened the wildness quotient of the men’s bastion i.e. Bachelor Parties!!
It also quoted event organizer, Rohit Chawla, plagued and pleased in turn, by the fact that Indian women planning pre-wedding Hen parties were requesting pole dancers and male strippers as declaring, “Hen parties are not limited to the elite class.” He added, “An increasing number of girls belonging to the middle class have approached me to organise hen parties. In fact, these girls have had some of the wildest hen parties arranged.”
Petite Bengali beauty and Bollywood actor, Riya Sen has also organised one such hen party for a best friend and says, “I think it’s great fun and I don’t see any harm in going really wild. That’s part of the whole idea – letting yourself go.”
Pretty model Pia Trivedi has a similar take: “The concept of hen parties is really catching up in the city. People have become as comfortable with them as they are with sangeet ceremonies.”
Finally, there’s Mohabattein actress, Kim Sharma, who is quick to emphasize that though she has nothing against the concept of Bachelorette parties, she does feel that “Letting your hair down is great, but freaking out doesn’t mean there’s a sleaze show on. Not that I have anything against them, but I think it’s important that people don’t go overboard with it…”
We found during a random poll for this feature that this is a point echoed by many Indian bridesmaids and brides-to-be regarding the growing interest about hen parties in India..