Mumbai new fro Hens...

The lyrics 'Girls just wanna have fun' have never been more true. Hen parties, the equivalent of stag bashes, are taking Mumbai by storm

Skimpily clad PYTs dancing away in itsy-bitsy outfits. Male strippers stopping a little short of the full monty. Unlimited booze, boys and fun -- it's as wild as it gets. While women's pre-marital hen parties have been around for quite a while, they have grown wilder over the years. The craze is fast catching up with the middle and upper-middle classes. In fact, the hen parties match, if not exceed, the traditional men's stag parties in the wildness quotient.

"Hen parties are not limited to the elite class. An increasing number of girls belonging to the middle class have approached me to organise hen parties. In fact, these girls have had some of the wildest hen parties arranged," reveals event organiser Rohit Chawla, who claims to have organised several such parties in the past few months. Being requested to arrange for male strippers or pole dancers doesn't surprise Rohit anymore, as he remarks, "In fact, hen parties are getting wilder than stag parties."

A similar thought is echoed by Salil, a male stripper. Recalling an incident, where he almost got clawed, he says, "It's simply crazy out there. Be it the ambience or the music, parties are getting wilder and they're taking fun to a different world altogether. The girls take me as a professional and things rarely get out of hand, but when they do, then it becomes really ugly."

Says actor Riya Sen, who had recently organised one such hen party for her best friend, "I think it's great fun and I don't see any harm in going really wild. That's part of the whole idea -- letting yourself go."

Model Pia Trivedi says, "The concept of hen parties is really catching up in the city. People have become as comfortable with them as they are with sangeet ceremonies."

Actor Kim Sharma, who recalls attending one such hen party, however, comments, "Letting your hair down is great, but freaking out doesn't mean there's a sleaze show on. Not that I have anything against them, but I think it's important that people don't go overboard with it."

"It's the thrill of doing all the things that we would generally refrain from doing that makes these parties a memorable experience. And what's wrong in letting your hair down just once in a while?" questions Sheetal Kamat, a 23-year-old brideto-be, who is looking forward to the hen party that's being organised by her friends. "Obviously, it's going to be kept a secret from my husband, at least for some time," she winks.