Never has a non-fiction book been so
gripping!! S. Hussain Zaidi is a master storyteller, who in the past has given
us classics like ‘Black Friday’, now weaves his tale of six decades of Mumbai
Mafia with a refreshing frankness and effortless literary poise.
Over the last decade, a number of Bollywood
films have tried to depict the Mumbai Underworld, from the candid ‘Satya’ to
the brooding ‘Company’ to the brazen ‘Once upon a time in Mumbai’. All these
films have triggered our curiosity about the dark and mysterious
underbelly of Mumbai; many of us want to know what actually happened, how it
happened, how nondescript boys from the bylanes of Mumbai started a crime
syndicate that became bigger than even the Italian Mafia. For all those who
share this curiosity, your search ends here. Zaidi presents the most detailed and
documented record of the Mumbai Underworld, with real characters, real
situations and real incidents, it’s about as real as it gets.
The book begins by covering the rise of Haji Mastan , the first "bhai" who rose from the docks of Mumbai and became a
notorious international smuggler, it then covers the next generation rivalry
between the Unruly Pathan Gang and their nemesis, a young and feisty Dawood
Ibrahim, a Frankenstein monster created by the Mumbai police itself. The
section where the Pathan Gang takes help of ‘Manya Surve’ ( essayed by John
Abraham in ‘Shootout at Wadala’) to plan the murder of Dawood’s close aide, is
an amazingly graphic and engaging account.
The next section covers the Don shifting
his base to Dubai and establishing an international empire of crime
unparalleled in the annals of history. Zaidi also supplies the shocking
politics and manipulations behind the oft heard tale of friends turned foes
Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan . The last leg of the Book moves to Karachi, the
rise of Abu Salem and Chhota Shakeel and the Mafia’s control over the glitzy
world of Bollywood. Zaidi presents some astonishing evidence on incidents that
we as common people can recall, including the man behind the infamous killing
of Music Magnate Gulshan Kumar.
The book also gives you a rare peek into
the personal lives of these dreaded gangsters. From heartbreaks in their adolescence,
to clandestine dates with “nautch” girls to passionate affairs with starlets that
became legends, it covers all of them. By showing that they have also loved and
lost like the rest of us, Zaidi imparts an almost humane gullibility to the characters.
He takes special interest in Dawood Ibrahim, where he links every incident in
the boy’s life, to the change in his behavior that ultimately made him the man
he became.
Another important parallel thread that runs
throughout the book is the role of the Underwold’s arch enemy, the ‘Gun for a
good cause’ Mumbai Police. It tackles sensitive issues such as ‘Encounter
Killings’ with admirable honesty and presents the ‘other’ side of the story.
The chapter on Shootout at Lokhandwala which till date remains Mumbai Police’s
most daring ‘encounter’, covers the entire operation in a minute by minute
detail that sets your pulse racing.
It’s a book that will become a single stop
for anything and everything on the Mumbai Mafia. Moroever, it pays homage to
the most “popular” gangster of our times, Dawood Ibrahim is portrayed in all
his myriad colours of suavity, eccentricity and ruthlessness, conjuring a negative
but awe inspiring portrait, much like that of Lord Voldemort created by JK
Rowling. ; Overall, Veteran Crime Journalist Zaidi successfully manages to toe
the delicate line between documentary evidence based accounts, and a gritty
dramatization of incidents justified by creative liberty. Go for it!
No comments:
Post a Comment