The rise of bhajan clubbing: How young India is reimagining spirituality

Rehmat Khubchandani’s hands are up. She lets out a delighted ‘oohoo’ as she emerges from the crowd. The music is upbeat, with a club-style energy, but the song is a bhajan. Around, some women dance, while the ones who stay seated clap, with their eyes closed.

“I have never experienced something like this,” gushes Rehmat, even as she catches her breath from the dancing, “It feels like a party, but with vibes that connect you with up there.” She points upwards towards the heavens. She – along with many members of the Good Deeds Club in Chennai, curated by Apsara Reddy – has just experienced the latest viral trend: ‘bhajan clubbing’.

Track record

Introducing a night club-like atmosphere, minus the alcohol, bhajan clubbing is catching on in many Indian cities, including Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru, as well as the US. Participants skew towards Gen-Z, who enjoy the sense of community it brings, a world away from the lonely endless scroll of social media.

“It is like entering a world of trance,” explains Mandira Bansal, “It might be a Gen-Z concept, but it’s wonderful. Why else would we be swaying to such tracks?” Mandira has just shaken a leg to a high-energy performance of ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’, a spiritual Sufi qawwali. There are many other spiritual tracks – including some celebrating gods like Shiva, Rama and Muruga – but the mood is very different from when these are traditionally sung in places of worship.

While bands like Backstage Siblings and Keshavam are getting popular for this style of concerts, Chennai singers are not far behind. Take Sai Vignesh, a classically-trained singer whose rendition of ‘Varaha Roopam’ (Kantara) is making an impact. Along with singer Saindhavi, Sai Vignesh’s renditions of bhajans and Sufi chants has the crowd on its feet. “I have been singing bhajans for years, but the word bhajan clubbing will take some time to get used to,” he smiles, “You don’t even need to know the full bhajan to enjoy this. The main motto is to make people come together.”

Here, spirituality is about connection and celebration. This is a new language of devotion, and it is amplified thanks to social media reels and posts – everyone enjoys spreading the word about a good party.

“We grew up listening to bhajans, but the current generation might not be too exposed to these tracks,” says Saindhavi, popular for both her hit film tracks and classical concerts, “Now, they are packaged within a different soundscape, but the divinity is still the same.”