The move soon picked up and spread like wildfire in Mumbai and Thane. At one point of time, there were an estimated 3,000 such night-bars employing over 75,000 dancers, but other estimates pegged the figure at around half a million.
Crores of rupees literally used to be blown up in these dance bars and there were some attractive dancers like Tarannum who was even raided by the Income Tax department.
Some of the top-end dancers used to arrive to 'work' in snazzy chauffeur-driven vehicles, with their own private armed security and an assistant to collect their earnings -- currrency notes showered on them by patrons.
But, for a majority of the other dancers, the plight was akin to what was vividly shown in the national award-winning 2001 movie "Chandni Bar".
