TRENDING NEWS
Back to news
20 Jul, 2025
Share:
Members only: Inside the new playgrounds of India's rich and famous
@Source: bbc.com
Demand for such spaces is strong enough for the international chain Soho House to plan two new launches in the capital Delhi and in south Mumbai in the coming months. Their first offering - an ocean-facing club on Mumbai's iconic Juhu Beach - opened six years ago and is wildly successful. The chain is one of a host of new club entrants vying to cater to a market that is booming in India. Soho House started in London in the mid-90s as an antidote to the upscale gentlemen's clubs that lined Pall Mall. It came in as a refreshingly new concept: a more relaxed club for creators, thinkers and creative entrepreneurs, who might have felt like they didn't belong in the enclaves of the old aristocracy. Thirty years later, India's flourishing tech-driven economy of start-ups and creators has birthed a nouveau riche that's afforded Soho House exactly another such market opportunity. "There's growth in India's young wealth, and young entrepreneurs really need a foundation to platform themselves," Kelly Wardingham, Soho House's Asia regional director, told the BBC. The "new wealthy require different things" from what the traditional gymkhanas offer. Unlike the old clubs, Soho House does not either "shut off" or let in people based on their family legacy, status, wealth or gender, she says. Members use the space as a haven to escape the bustle of Mumbai, with its rooftop pool, gym and private screening rooms as well as a plethora of gourmet food options. But they also use it to drive value from a diverse community of potential mentors and investors, or to learn new skills and attend events and seminars. Reema Maya, a young filmmaker, says her membership of the house in Mumbai - a city "where one is always jostling for space and a quiet corner in a cramped cafe" - has given her rare access to the movers and shakers of Mumbai's film industry - which might otherwise have been impossible for someone like her "without generational privilege". In fact, for years, traditional gymkhanas were closed off for the creative community. The famous Bollywood actor, the late Feroz Khan, once asked a gymkhana club in Mumbai for membership, only to be politely refused, as they didn't admit actors. Khan, taken aback by their snootiness, is said to have quipped, "If you'd watched my movies, you would know I am not much of an actor." By contrast, Soho House proudly flaunts Bollywood star Ali Fazal, a member, on its in-house magazine cover.
For advertisement: 510-931-9107
Copyright © 2025 Usfijitimes. All Rights Reserved.