With a population of more than 1.4 billion, India remains a country without a single self-described gay bar. Even cosmopolitan Mumbai, with a population of almost 22 million people, lacks a conspicuous queer space.
In fact, Mumbai’s first-ever openly queer storefront, D’Kloset Pride Store, which sold clubwear, underwear and rainbow accessories that appealed to gay men, lived a short life. Opened in 2010, the boutique closed only four years later because the landlord, claiming to be following Section 377 of India’s penal code, which prohibits homosexuality, evicted them.
Since India’s Supreme Court struck down Section 377 in 2018, there’s been no avalanche of LGBTQ+ venues opening in Mumbai, a port city that’s known as a party town. Yet Mumbai has a very active LGBTQ+ community and gay party scene—it’s just a matter of knowing how to connect with it.
So we tracked down the most visible LGBTQ+ entrepreneur and activist in Mumbai, Inder Vhatwar, to talk about how to access the scene. He was the man behind D’Kloset and has since moved into party promotion, hosting LGBTQ+ events under the brand House of Rage.
Vhatwar, 43, grew up in the slums of Mumbai and lost his dad when he was three. “Back then it was very difficult for any kid to survive in a slum, but it’s worse when you are from the community. I’ve gone through lots of bullying and abuse,” he tells Pink Ticket Travel.
He was able to go to London, where he did a course in visual merchandising and space management. While in the U.K., he realized that the world was growing more accepting to LGBTQ+ people, and that India could be more open, too. He returned to Mumbai and very publicly launched his short-lived boutique (British celebrity Stephen Fry once stopped by).
Meanwhile, he founded House of Rage, which now hosts parties pretty much every week. Its weekday events attract up to 250 people, its Saturday events up to 800 people and special events, like their Pride party, draw about 1,500 people.
Vhatwar is not the only show in town, however. Gay Bombay has been hosting parties for gay men since 1998, while Salvation Star hosts regular parties marketed to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community. Party details are circulated on social media and in email blasts. While Gay Bombay and Salvation Star parties tend to move around or be hosted in venues that are unexpected or nondescript, House of Rage’s parties usually take place in the same venue. They’ve partnered with Kitty Su Mumbai, the nightclub of the five-star LaLiT Mumbai Hotel (Airport Rd., Navpada, Marol, Andheri East, Mumbai). (There are also LGBTQ+ events at the Kitty Su in New Delhi.)
Pink Ticket Travel asked Vhatwar about the Mumbai queer party scene.
How did you get into hosting parties?
Because of the store, I had contacts within the community. I wanted to start a safe place for nightlife. A few groups were organizing parties, but not in very good places. There were a lot of legal issues, cops coming and harassing us during the parties. So my target was to host events in a five-star hotel where I can have 100 percent security. That was my main concern in the beginning. That quality is what we’re giving to our community. People can feel nice, dress up and walk into a club knowing it’s going to be a safe event. Nobody’s going to hassle them, blackmail them with pictures or videos or anything.
I spent a good six to eight months meeting with all the five-star hotels, and everybody said, “We are not comfortable.” I finally got Sofitel to give it a try. I remember my first event. One of the managers came to me and said, “Oh, your crowd is speaking English and they are all dressed well.” I said, “Obviously. Many of us are from a fashion background.” When you read the newspapers and watch Bollywood movies, they characterize our community in such a way, and that’s not who we are. But our crowd dresses up, they behave well. Then I met with the son of the LaLiT Hotel Group’s owner. He wanted to start hosting LGBTQ+ events. So we’re now at the LaLiT Hotel club, Kitty Su. That was the beginning of the journey of the House of Rage. Basically, “Rage” was the anger that we felt in not getting the venues for parties.
What’s the House of Rage vibe?
Our crowd is a mix of everyone, and everyone is welcome. They can dress in saris, they can dress in heels, wear makeup—nobody judges them. At Kitty Su, we started having drag artists come—local drag artists from within India, but also drag queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race. We’ve had Peppermint, Thorgy Thor and lots of other big names.
Other venues have issues with trans people, but they can come to our events as they are. We have drag performances, trans performers, go-go boys, male performers. Some events play only English music. We play both Bollywood and English—it’s a mix of everything.
Because you’re at a five-star hotel, does that limit who can come?
The whole point of getting five-star hotels as our venues is safety, security and quality. But the pricing is almost the same compared to other standalone bars or clubs. We give free entry to young members of the community who are staying in shelter housing, plus students pay less, so they can come and be themselves. The LaLiT Hotel Group has started Keshav Suri Foundation, which hosts a lot of activities, movie screenings, poster-making, that kind of thing. That also helps people who don’t come for the nightlife to make connections. Some people are not used to going to parties at nighttime without the permissions of their family at home. So we have these options also.
Do you see the other promoters as your rivals?
We don’t jump on each other’s venues or each other’s dates. We divided Saturdays between all of us. Lots of people connect with us before they travel to Mumbai from other places. They’ll ask, “Are you guys having an event on these dates?” If I don’t have an event, I’ll give them the information for Salvation Star or Gay Bombay, if they are having events on those dates. People are very helpful here. If you connect with one person, they will guide you for the entire city.
As a visitor to Mumbai, what’s the best way to run into other LGBTQ+ people?
In Bandra [a nice seaside suburb of Mumbai], in most of the bars and clubs there, you will always see some LGBTQ+ people. Everybody’s very friendly there. We go to Olive Bar & Kitchen (14 Nargis Dutt Rd., Union Park, Khar West, Mumbai). Even in Andheri [a nice suburb close to the airport], in high-end bars or clubs, people are very open and welcoming. There’s a bar in LaLiT (Airport Rd., Andheri East, Mumbai) called Beluga where you’ll see people from the community. We have done events at Planet Hollywood Thane (Ghodbunder Rd., beside Bayer House, Hiranandani Estate, Thane West, Thane), which is about an hour drive from the main city.
You’re making it sound more friendly than I imagined.
Just be yourself. Nobody judges here. Nobody wants to check on you. You used to get a laugh when people would see two men holding hands. There’s nothing like that now. I’ve been with my partner for 12 years. We live together, we are married. When we step out, we go to any restaurant, club we want as a couple. We treat each other, we celebrate our anniversary outside. Nobody treats us as different.
Has the 2018 Supreme Court decision overturning Section 377 made any difference?
Majorly, yes. But we are still fighting for same-sex marriage. But it helps a lot, not being called criminals. Social media and OTT [over-the-top media platforms that allow access to uncensored programming] have also improved things. They show very open stories about the community and the struggles we face. Bollywood used to portray us as jokes. Now they include real topics, discussions about our lives. Even in smaller cities. Two years back I started my event at LaLiT Hotel Jaipur (Jawahar Circle 2B & 2C, Jagatpura Rd., Malviya Nagar, Jaipur). A lot of travellers go to Jaipur because of its history. So when I did my first party there, we managed to advertise ourselves on the dating apps. We were expecting around 60, 70 people. We had around 300 and a good 20 percent of them were travellers. I think in the coming years you will see so many more differences when visiting India.
Can you imagine reopening the D’Kloset boutique?
We did a whole production to reopen the store in 2019 or 2020, but then COVID hit. So we had to pause the reopening. I don’t want to go online because it’s a statement store where anybody can feel at home to shop. I don’t want to take that feeling away. Before it was a fashion boutique, but this time it will be a loud, out Pride store kind of thing. We have almost done all the production lines needed to restart. I’m looking for a place to reopen.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
