CHENNAI: The fate of Pasha, the nightclub at The Park Hotel, Chennai, which was penalised last month following a party in which couples were caught on camera kissing, is still hanging in balance. As the police are yet to respond to The Park’s explanation, hoteliers in Chennai are losing their sleep over dealing with guests carrying camera phones into nightclubs.
While regular cameras are banned in such clubs as Dublin (Park Sheraton), Flame (Le Meridian), Distil (Taj Connemara), Bike & Barrel (Residency Towers) and pubs Zara’s, Spark’s and Geoffrey’s, camera phones have put the managements in a spot.
“Almost every mobile phone nowadays has a camera. We can’t stop our guests from carrying them”, says Taj Connemara public relations manager Sanjuktha Roy.
“After a Tamil eveninger splashed pictures of couples smooching on the dance floor, we do monitor those guests having camera phones”, says the manager of a discotheque in Chennai. “It is a tricky situation – you can’t be rude to the guest by frisking; you can neither rule out the possibility of someone video recording or taking pictures of other guests on the dance floor using their mobile phones. We are seriously thinking of asking the guests to deposit the camera phones at the entrance to the dance floor”
Dublin, the Irish pub and nightclub at Park Sheraton does not stop its guests from carrying camera phones inside, but keeps a vigil. “If someone takes pictures inside, then definitely we will deal with the person”, says Amreeta Balachandran of Park Sheraton.
Some partygoers complain they are being frisked at some of the pubs, but a majority seems to be willing to oblige even if a ban is imposed of camera phones. “After all, it’s privacy we need”, say Preetham and her friend Sajith, who don’t fail to shake a leg at the city’s discotheques on weekends, “We can do away with the phone for a couple of hours than find our pictures on newspaper pages”.
The Park Hotel, meanwhile, is yet to open `Pasha’, where the controversial party happened. The Madras High court had asked the Chennai police to seek additional explanation if needed and gave 15 days for the hotel to reply. “We have given our explanation”, says The Park public relations manager Sunitha Menon.
