Anurag Kashyap’s period drama Bombay Velvet, which opens on May 15, takes its name from a nightclub run by protagonist Johnny Balraj, played by Ranbir Kapoor. The club, that staple of 1950s and ‘60s Hindi films, will be seen again on the screen after a long gap. It had many uses: it was a place of enjoyment and pleasure for the elite; it was where the thoroughly modern hero and heroine went to romance before they became officially engaged (after which the girl became domesticated); it was the headquarters of the criminal boss and where shady henchmen lurked and the boss’s moll danced.

These possibilities allowed directors to weave in a night club and a song or two into the story, thereby upping the glamour quotient. The men were in dinner jackets, the women in shimmering gowns and sarees, the dancers in frilly costumes. Set designers let their imaginations go haywire ‒ Egyptian pyramids, Spanish haciendas, Chinese pagodas, it was a free for all. Here are some of the purposes that the nightclub has served and continues to serve in Hindi films.

It’s a den of iniquity and crime

The club is both a symbol of a kind of social modernity or a den of sleaze and iniquity, but it remains an exclusive space, available as a place of entertainment only to those who belong to a particular class, or to those involved in criminal activities that need to be hidden from the eyes of the law. The club provides the best cover for a criminal enterprise ‒ after all, evils like drinking, gambling and sex can happen in a westernised, and therefore un-Indian environment.

Baazi, the first of many crime films in the 1950s, was made in a style that is often called Bombay Noir. A young Guru Dutt, directing his first feature, was clearly influenced by Hollywood since he imported many film noir elements, such as the lighting, sinister-looking villains and the building up of suspense.

One of the best club songs ever was from Phool aur Pathar (1966).



Shashikala, playing the blonde Rita, dances at a club that’s a front for a criminal enterprise run by John, played by the incomparable Madan Puri. However, Rita has eyes only for Shaka, John’s rough and ready strongman and played by Dharmendra in a breakthrough role. Like most good club songs, this one has a chorus line. The singer is Asha Bhonsle, the music is by Ravi, and this song is inspired by the Brazilian track Adorinha Preta.

It’s where dirty work is afoot

Sometimes there is imminent danger – a killing, a robbery – and the club song is a device to lead up to the climax. The Navketan studio directors use it to good effect in Taxi Driver and in Funtoosh, in which Dev Anand is reminded that he has to commit suicide as per a promise to capitalist KN Singh, who will then collect the insurance.

In 1959, NA Ansari, the master of B-grade crime movies, directed his best ever film Black Cat, which features a club song. A pair of detectives, played by Johnny Walker and Shammi, set out to find the secret behind cabin number 3, where people go and then disappear.



In The Train, stylish police officer Rajesh Khanna’s investigation into a spurt of fake cheques leads him to the Star, a grand night club where Lily (Helen) dances and characters like Shetty and Madan Puri hang out.

Madan is a small-time card sharp who has been recruited by a shadowy criminal boss to play at the Star. After a while, Madan becomes inconvenient for the boss, especially since he is in love with the boss’s daughter. This will not do, and thus Madan must be eliminated. Leena, the club dancer, warns Madan in this song that dirty games are afoot and he is in danger.



Farhan Akhtar brought that trope back in his 2006 version of Don. A rival is bumped off in a club while everyone else enjoys Aaj Ki Raat.

It's where the men go over to the dark side and the women get drunk

The club is a metaphor for a personality change: it’s where good girls get drunk (Kismat) or misbehave (April Fool). In both instances Biswajeet looks on disapprovingly.

Often, girls already gone bad, such as Susie in Evening in Paris, dance in skimpy outfits (though it helps that the club is supposed to be a foreign country and not in India.)

But arguably the finest example of the club being the venue where the hero discovers his dark side is Raj Kapoor’s best film, Shri 420. Despite the earnestness of KA Abbas’s screenplay, about the noble poor and the ugly rich, the movie conveys its point in an entertaining way.



The situation is that honest Raj, who has come to the big city to make his fortune, crosses over to the dark side and leaves his values behind forever at a night club where the elite – the hoarder, the speculator, the manipulator – have gathered for a New Year’s Eve party. He lets go of the simple and decent teacher Vidya and joins the merriment with the impossibly glamourous but evil Maya (Nadira). In keeping with his reputation as a great showman, Raj Kapoor built a grand set for the night club that accurately captured the Bombay high life, complete with blinking lights, a large dance floor and an orchestra. Of particular note is Radhu Karmakar’s outstanding light and shadow camerawork.

It’s where flirting is normal and even encouraged

Shammi Kapoor “outed” his girlfriend in China Town while Joy Mukherjee tried to woo a reluctant Asha Parekh in Love in Tokyo.

The tables are turned in Shakti Samanta’s Howrah Bridge, where Madhubala did the flirting with Ashok Kumar.



Samanta is remembered more for the romantic movies he made later in his career, such as Aaradhna and Amar Prem. But he also made some well-crafted crime films such as Howrah Bridge and China Town, both set in Calcutta.

In this song, Edna played by a sultry Madhubala, bats her eyelashes at dapper Ashok Kumar (dinner jacket and bowtie) who is visiting the city to investigate the murder of his brother. Being an Anglo Indian, and a club singer to boot, she is allowed to be a bit forward. The shady angle is provided by KN Singh, complete with Fedora, who thinks that she is singing for him. This was perhaps the first film in which the lead character was shown to be an Anglo Indian. Like the previous song, this too is sung by Asha Bhonsle, the go-to singer for sizzling club songs and cabaret numbers.

It’s where people have fun

The nightclub is where the big parties are held, such as in Anari, and where people come to listen to the latest hot music, such as in Dil Deke Dekho. Shammi Kapoor, always on the lookout for a club song opportunity, also does a turn as a fake Beatle in Jaanwar and plays the drummer in Teesri Manzil.



Asha Parekh has come to look for the mysterious Rocky, who caused the suicide of her sister. Here she meets the dashing Shammi Kapoor, a self-confessed poet who can bang the drums, dance and also sing. This is the first of several songs set in the club and director Vijay Anand, who was a master of filming song sequences, lets his imagination run wild.

Watch the curved descending staircase, the huge cut-out of the name Rocky, Helen’s frequent costume changes and her back-up dancers. It is a grand, sensory spectacle. The song was choreographed by the great Herman Benjamin, a favourite of Shammi Kapoor, who loved to include at least one rock and roll number in his movies. Notice a young Salim Khan in the beginning of this sequence.

Master choreographer Herman Benjamin directed many of the great western club dances, such as in Gumnaam.



Gumnaam was inspired from Agatha Christie’s novel And then there were none. This song, which opens the film after the titles, is set in the Princes Club, where the winners of a lucky draw are announced. These winners will go on a two-week vacation abroad. However, their chartered plane crashes on an island and each dies mysteriously one by one. This song has acquired cult status over the years. It has been used in the Hollywood film Ghost World and also in a commercial for Heineken beer. Benjamin not only choreographed the energetic dance but also sings it on the screen.

Sidharth Bhatia is a journalist and writer who is currently working on Bombay Noir crime films.