After a muted Halloween last year, Hyderabadis are aching to trick or treat and spook the living daylights out of their friends. Venues too across the city are all decked up to host ‘wannabe’ zombies, sheet ghosts, Grim Reapers and gravediggers with eerie decor and screams. From organising special gigs, theme parties and danceoffs, they have gone all out to ensure that their guests have a thrilling experience. Hard Rock Cafe in HiTech City will be hosting a ‘Halloweekend’.
“Three Of Us And Her, a city-based band, will perform on Saturday, and another band called The Eighth Note Project goes live on Sunday. We have already started decorating the placing with spooky props. The ambience is going to be frightening yet joyous,” says Naveen, the manager at Hard Rock Cafe. Kismet, another pub at Somajiguda, has invited hip-hop DJ Kan-i.
“The ambience will be perfect for a scary nightout with Grim Reapers and gravediggers. It is not a costume party, but we have requested all the guests to come dressed as per the theme,” N Shiva from the Kismet team says. “Bartenders will be serving some unique potions, neverknown- before mystical cocktails and bloody drinks,” he adds. Dragvanti and the Hyderabad Drag Club rang in the Halloween mood on Friday with a special event, Bhootiya Dragodashi which celebrated music, dance and drag.
The most celebrated drag performers from the city performed, which was followed by a twist of magic. Inspired by Rasmy Brothers’ Hindi Horror movies, this theme event also had a drag show by Suffocated Art Specimen, a music performance by The Nation’s Rock Beat. For the fearless, Mystery Rooms in Jubilee Hills Rd No. 36 is hosting a live escape game, wherein a team of two-eight people is locked in a mysterious space for an hour with a mission to accomplish. They must find clues, hints and mysterious objects, solve puzzles in order to escape in time.
This one challenges all the senses. “Mystery Rooms is a challenging race against time where the motive is to get yourself out of a theme-based room before it’s too late. Imagine being locked in a space with your team and you have only 60 minutes to use logic, solve puzzles, find hints and prove the power of teamwork to pave your path to freedom. It’s as easy as it’s hard. Everything you need to plan your escape is inside the room, hidden in plain sight,” says, Sandhya, a management staffer at Mystery Rooms. Craving for good food along with a kick of thrill? Head to multi-cuisine bar and restaurant Tabula Rasa in Kavuri Hills, where things are going to get dark, literally.
“We are going for a dark theme this year. It would be spooky and thrilling. We have not mandated costumes, but anyone who wishes to wear one has no reason to shy away,” says Abdul Zeid, the manager. Adding some comic relief to a scary weekend, Comic Social will host ‘Haloween Spook Tacular’ on Saturday. “We have organised a tarot card reading, potion- making and costume contest. There’s also a comedy show, with a spooky twist, hosted by Hriday Rajan in collaboration with the Wandering Raven Writing Academy,” says Dhanraj Dixit, the manager at Comic Social, Jubilee Hills.
While pubs and bars across the city have everything planned out for this weekend, the people want to make a statement with the right costumes and props. “The sale for Halloween props has seen an increase. The most popular prop this year seems to be Squid Game mask followed by DIY plain masks,” says Damodhar, the store manager of Itsy Bitsy, at Jubilee Hills Rd No. 78. The craft store has everything spook-worthy on its shelves -- blood injections, Dracula teeth, blood-dripping fangs, a glow-in-thedark paint and neon glow lipsticks. The regulars such as the witch’s broom and hat, scream mask, pumpkin lanterns, Frankenstein cutouts, vampire capes, spooky spider webs and Jacko- lanterns are also selling fast, says Damodhar.