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Dame Imphala (left) and Betta Naan Stop during a performance | By special arrangement\n<\/p>\nNew Delhi: At 10 pm, drag queens Lush Monsoon and Betta Naan Stop were still getting ready for a Dolly Parton tribute at Kitty Su. An hour earlier, electronic beats and a heavy bassline had already taken over the lobby of The LaLit Mumbai as guests strolled in to sway to the Queen of Country\u2019s iconic songs.<\/p>\n
Betta first knew Parton as Aunt Dolly from Hannah Montana.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then, I was focused on Hannah Montana,\u201d the drag queen laughed.<\/p>\n
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They went back to Parton after starting drag. Parton\u2019s exaggerated hair, glamour, and excess femininity are the bread and butter of any drag artist.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve heard these songs. Your parents have played them. But then going through that in a different lens, as a different person, now you know yourself more. So when you\u2019re listening to these songs, you kind of picture yourself expressing them in a different way,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Joining Betta and Lush at \u2018The Doll House: Country Doll\u2019 night on 11 September were artists Zeesh, Roxy Versace, Dame Imphala, Chelsei, and AfroGyal Krisha. Before the drag queens took the stage, Bollywood songs kept the predominantly male crowd on their feet. Hardly anyone was standing still.<\/p>\n
\nDame Imphala (left) and Betta Naan Stop during a performance | By special arrangement\n<\/p>\n
As the queens got ready upstairs, makeup covered the tables. Betta recalled a time when getting in drag could take close to four hours. Now, on a good day, it takes her about two and a half.<\/p>\n
The face comes first. Then body shaping, corsets and padding, clothes, wigs, shoes, and accessories. Wigs are Betta\u2019s favourite part.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I was a kid, I wanted long hair,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
When Lush and Betta started performing, getting ready did not look like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started, we were begging every venue to let us perform,\u201d Lush recalled.<\/p>\n
They got ready in somebody\u2019s bedroom, a storage room, and once, even a metro station washroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven getting into a hotel room used to make us feel like an impostor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The hours spent getting ready together were part of it too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe performance is five, 10, 15 minutes on stage, but the getting-ready process while we\u2019re together, we\u2019re talking together, we\u2019re laughing. That is the key thing for me,\u201d Lush added.<\/p>\n