The Nightlife Impresarios: Keenan and Ryan Tham of Trilogy

Keenan and Ryan Tham.

After Trilogy opened at the Hotel Sea Princess in Juhu in September 2010, it changed the way Mumbai parties. Eighteen months later, for better or worse, clubs across the city have been inspired both by its look and door policy. Trilogy was the first club to eschew distracting strobe lights for glitzy LED chandeliers that cover the ceiling and change colours in sync with the music—a decorative feature you will now find at Tryst in Lower Parel, LIV in Kala Ghoda, and Rehab in Bandra.

Like at Trilogy, you will find that getting through the door at any of the aforementioned clubs is never a sure bet, unless you’re willing to shell out a considerable amount of dosh. Owner Keenan Tham, 28, who runs Trilogy along with his brother Ryan, 30, says that when they launched, they were looking to fill “a gap in the high-end segment” of the Mumbai nightlife scene, something they seem to have achieved with resounding success if you were to go only by the crowds outside the Hotel Sea Princess around 1.30am—when all the neighbouring clubs have shut, Trilogy, by virtue of being housed inside a five-star, is still buzzing until 3am.

The best way to ensure that you make it past the burly bouncers would be to book a table, says Keenan Tham. Currently, tables in the lower lounge area carry a minimum spend of Rs30,000, and those in the upper dance floor area that of Rs40,000; tables in both sections can be booked by parties of up to 12 people. Despite this, Tham says that “we don’t consider ourselves very snooty”. If you’re not on the guest list, which comprises “people who have booked, friends [and] regulars”, Tham suggest that you “come early, by 11pm” and if the club is not too busy, you might need to only shell out the Rs1,000 per head entry fee to walk in. While this makes the predictability of a visit to Trilogy akin to that of the outcome of an India-Pakistan cricket match, there are clearly many clubbers in this city who believe it’s worth the risk for the stellar cocktails and crowd-friendly mix of hip hop and commercial house. Not surprisingly, the Thams plan to replicate the success they’ve enjoyed with Trilogy—on the cards for 2013 are nightclubs/lounges in both Mumbai and Delhi.

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