For one night only, this is not a house

After a long day of wandering the labyrinthine halls of the India Art Fair in Delhi—dodging collectors so deep in thought you’d think this was the G20, deciphering artist statements that make Proust seem like light reading, and praying you don’t spill your drink on anything that costs more than your apartment—there’s only one destination: art patron Tarana Sawhney’s after party.

For 12 glorious years, Sawhney, who is the chairperson of the CII Task Force on Art and Culture and a member of the Tate International Council, and her husband, businessman Tarun Sawhney have played hosts to one the art world’s favourite dos. While the fair is a place for serious art, serious money, and seriously intimidating conversations, Sawhney’s soirée is where the art world kicks off its Tabis, and swaps 'the next big thing in art’ debates for easy banter, and, this year, it went all-in on the puns.

The theme? A ‘Pun Party,’ naturally. The execution? A cheeky spectacle that even had the most buttoned-up critics loosening their ties. The first clue that this wasn’t your typical post-fair gathering was the 12-foot banana lounging on the roof of the Sawhneys’ beautiful Lutyen’s bungalow—because what better way to welcome guests than with a nod to Warhol and a wink to Maurizio Cattelan’s $6 million duct-taped banana? The house, already a contender for the title of “museum most likely to have a TikTok account,” was dressed in its most playful attire for the night. A sign near the entrance declared, “This Is Not a Museum”. Spoiler alert: it totally is. If Sawhney’s home had a gift shop, you’d be buying ironic postcards and miniature replicas of the art you had just laughed at and posted on your Instagram stories.

Inside, the décor doubled down on the dad jokes. Duchamp’s famous urinals were reincarnated as installations overflowing with pearls—because why not make plumbing glamorous? Subodh Gupta-inspired buckets spilled over with bananas, a sight that left guests both delighted and slightly perplexed. Every corner was a visual gag or a clever nod to art history, practically begging for a selfie.

Bathroom selfies were particularly taken up a notch. Each bathroom had a different theme, two of them were plastered with bindis, a playful homage to Bharati Kher’s works. Another featured urinals stuffed with wads of (fake) Euros and dollars—an unsubtle jab at the rollercoaster ride that is global finance. Guests emerged giggling, armed with mirror selfies and jokes about how they spent more time critiquing the toilet decor than anything at the fair. “I think I just spent more time there than at the fair,” one guest laughed, emerging after an extended photo session.

As for the art? Beyond the puns and pranks, the Sawhneys are longtime patrons of Indian contemporary art, and have over time, turned their home into a living gallery. Subodh Gupta’s bucket chandeliers twinkle overhead, Zarina Hashmi’s quiet power graces the walls, and GR Iranna’s ‘Naavu’ (2010), a haunting installation of hundreds of padukas, serves as a solemn counterpoint to the night’s revelry. Mithu Sen, a regular fixture in the couple’s collection, was spotted dancing among the elite with a carefree spirit that perfectly captured the night’s vibe—art doesn’t always have to be serious to be significant.

Look down and the floors too were covered in pun-tastic quotes, each more groan-inducing than the last. “You’re a pigment of my imagination” greeted guests at the entrance, while another corner reminded everyone that “Monet can’t buy happiness, but art can”. Rezon founder Kalyani Saha Chawla couldn’t hide her admiration. “Tarana throws the best parties because she really knows her art,” she gushed, nodding at the chaos with a grin.

Delhi-based food and beverage creator Eeshaan Kashyap, the creative mind behind the event’s curation, summed up the experience perfectly: “Tarana allowed me to treat this place like a playground. I could experiment and actually have fun with ideating for the event. And there were so many fun ideas that we dropped. For example, we were thinking of serving pea soup in pee bowls! There’s only so much space, but we had so much fun curating this. We just wanted it to be a place where people could come and have fun after a long day.”

But beneath the fun and frivolity lies a deeper purpose. As Sawhney puts it, “When we started this (pointing to her art collection), this home almost became, for Tarun and me, a responsibility to host, so that we could show what is happening in the Indian contemporary art ecosystem.” And there you have it. This isn’t just a party—it’s a pop-up museum, a playground for the art world, a space where hierarchies dissolve and everyone, from the established to the emerging, gets to mingle.

As the night wore on, the unofficial party game of identifying puns gave way to an impromptu dance floor. Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” melted into ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”, and before long, “Slow Motion Angreza” had the most stoic attendee cutting loose. It’s not every day you see curators, museum directors, artists, and collectors letting their hair down, cocktails in hand, dancing like tomorrow’s panel discussion was a million miles and not a hangover away.