Hyderabad’s Drag artistes celebrate Halloween in style

The special attraction of the event was a magic show which gave chills to audience

Halloween in India is a counter-cultural festival which came to exist with the popularity of pop culture. With growing understanding of cosplay and drag, the idea of Halloween has been quite widely celebrated for the past few years.

Drag culture has an interlined with celebrating the festival. So for many, Halloween becomes a safe space to explore their gender expression. With the debate of its celebrations in India going on and off, spaces in India have been always open to accepting the idea of celebrating.

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But due to Covid and the Lockdown for eight months, not many spaces opened their doors. However, Drag artistes in Hyderabad have seen Halloween as a perfect time to come back to public spaces with their performance following the new normality. On October 29, Hyderabad Drag Club, in collaboration with Mobbera Foundation, curated its first event after 8 months to celebrate the new normality of drag shows. The event was organised at the Sacred Earth Café, Madhapur.

The event saw a footfall of 100 people — all of them wearing masks and following social distancing. The café has been proactive in opening up the space for queer community, especially Drag performances, and is regarded a Queer-friendly space.

The event started with a ‘share’ session by Tousif Ahmad, followed by a drag show by Suffocated Art Specimen aka Patruni Sastry. The event was followed by Drag performances of Karan, Ahalya aka Rishi and Shaik Madan from the Mobbera Foundation.

The special attraction of the event was a magic show by Mynu, who has been bringing the idea of magic to Hyderabad with an innovative concept. His performance gave chills to the audience where he used his Mentalism technique to make it spooky. His performance included comic elements which were balanced with some breathtaking magic.
He uses scary props such as cotton made voodoo doll and paint to keep the audience hooked and ensure they take the aspects of horror with a fun way. Post his session, he spread awareness on how magic is more technical and people should stop believing in superstitions and be self-aware.

A beatboxing performance by Rishab and a Metal song by Praneet from the Nations rock beat followed. At the end of the show, Patruni Sastry thanked the venue provider and audience for coming together and making the event successful. As a closing note, Vineeth, the co-founder of Sacred Earth, mentioned that the space is open for all and believes in celebrating aspects of humanity with green food and life.

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