The maverick maven of Style Mile

It was once a forest and a village. Today, Delhi’s leafy Mehrauli Road is lined with bright lights and exotic names. Its called Style Mile, a short stretch of trendy boutiques, spas, restaurants and the latest, the trendy Blue Frog nightclub. The fashionable Olive restaurant, the trendy Thai Hi, Poppadom and Circa makes fine-dining an integral aspect of the place. The man who presides over the stretch, Sanjeev Batra, says 2012 is the year of possibilities. “We are open for business,” he says with full gusto. “We have successfully resurrected the place.”

Blue Frog is Delhi’s new nocturnal sensation, a premier nightclub with cutting-edge sound, design and technology, located at the Kila — part of a 100-year-old serai (traveller’s inn) situated half-a-kilometre from the Qutub Minar. Kila is Batra’s latest project. “It has been made possible with a large-scale renovation project by a team of industry professionals and veterans. Housed in a 7,000 square-foot old-world space, the venue is a modern ode to music, art and culture. “The Kila by the Qutub is a stunning property. If there is one place in Delhi we should be at, this is it. With the help of Sanjeev, who has been true to the brand’s ethos, Blue Frog has incredible sound, light and projection and it promises to change the way this city listens to music,” says co-owner, Mahesh Mathai.

With live music running six nights a week, and international artists featured regularly, all genres of music ranging from jazz, blues, funk, soul, Latin, electronic, club, rock, folk and lots more, are played here. Along with that, musical theatre — a relatively new concept in Delhi — is getting plaudits with stand-up comedy, poetry readings and film nights. “Delhi was a logical choice as it has diverse musical and gastronomical tastes. So while the focus is still on independent music acts and discovering or exposing Indian audiences to bands from around the world, we are very excited to tap into the large classical music audience that Delhi has nurtured,” says Mathai.

Since the space is an old serai, the emphasis has been on maintaining the integrity of the structure in every way possible, while aiming to deliver a high quality contemporary space. “A perfect juxtaposition of the old harmonising with the new was the thought carried forward throughout the process of reconstruction,” says Batra, who feels upholding the principle is crucial at a time when beautiful structures are being indiscriminately pulled down to make way for glass and steel skyscrapers.

Kila also houses the new restaurant Azimuth, Chefs’ Studio. Serving a seasonal menu that will change every three months, it features international chefs who will also be rotated each season. “How can any experience be complete without food? And Azimuth is the answer to the Punjabi in all of us,” says Batra.

Tucked away in another neat corner of the space, is the style store Evoluzione. “Initially, we were told a store this far away from the upscale fashion bazaars of Delhi wouldn’t work out, but seeing the sheer number of people dropping in every day, I am happy they were proved wrong,” says Batra. “That my dear, is called Style Mile — my aim was always to make it into a cultural hub. And with its close proximity to the Qutub Minar, we are getting not only expats, but also a lot of others wanting to experience something new. They get it all on this one stretch of heritage land,” he says. It’s a state-of-the-art

cultural jamboree.