Dongri to Dubai by S. Hussain Zaidi Review by Garvit Pahal

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Dongri to Dubai by S. Hussain Zaidi Review by Garvit Pahal Dongri to Dubai is the first ever attempt to chronicle the history of the Mumbai mafia. It is the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem, but above all, it is the story of a young man who went astray despite having a father in the police force. Dawood Ibrahim was initiated into crime as a pawn in the hands of the Mumbai police and went on to wipe out the competition and eventually became the Mumbai police's own nemesis. If you search internet, you’ll find plethora of information on Dawood and the Mumbai underworld. But you hardly get the complete picture of what the underworld is, and how it came into existence. Dongri to Dubai is one book that fills the gap. The book begins with the period of 1950’s, and gradually moves on to the era of smugglers like Hazi Mastan & Vardarajan Mudaliar, the menace of the Pathan gang, the short but dreadful span of Manya Surve, and all these stories get interlinked with the making of Dawood Ibrahim, the gangster. It also depicts how changing political scenarios like the Emergency, the enforcement of certain laws like MISA and TADA, the establishment of Indian Spy Agency RAW and the Liberation policy of 1991 affected the fortunes of the mafia. The book also depicts the state of Bollywood when it got unwillingly embroiled with D Company. The book is full of anecdotes about how certain words came into mafia lingo - cultural origins of Rampuri chaku (a long foldable knife with sharp edges on one side first used by the Rampuri gang), why a hit job is referred to as ‘supari’ (betel nut) and a valorous man is referred to as ‘soorma’ (eyeliner). It is the most comprehensive piece of work that must have required years of painstaking research and risky interviews with the infamous and dreaded characters of the underworld. S. Hussain Zaidi deserves full credit for the entertainment and information. But S. Hussain Zaidi is a journalist and not an author, and this is apparent throughout the book. The book is full of countless small stories that talk about the lives of different dons. Many of these stories prove to be a distraction from the main story and unfortunately, there is not a lot of content for the main story. The book also tries to portray Dawood Ibrahim as a larger than life character. Instead of focusing on the wrongdoings of the Mumbai mafia, the book ends up portraying it as a glorified profession. Overall, it is a fascinating history of the underworld. It may not be a racy thriller but the author manages to keep you entertained and engrossed throughout. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

DT Page 01 May 15.Indd
MONDAY 15 MAY 2017 CAMPUS | 4 FOOD | 9 BOLLYWOOD | 11 MESMES wwins table tennis Sesame fried Tried hard to be a & badminton rice with spring jerk on ‘Baywatch’’ medals vegetables & egg set: Priyanka Email: [email protected] OUTREACH INITIATIVES CMU-Q conducts an activity involving around 40 students as part of its outreach initiatives which highlight new academic and career paths for youth. P | 2-3 02 COVER STORY MONDAY 15 MAY 2017 Highlighting new academic and career paths The Peninsula carefully crafted workshops, out- group of ambitious high reach workshops school students gath- let young people ers on a Saturday in the experience life as bright and airy majlis a stock trader, a area at Carnegie Mel- computer pro- Alon University in Qatar (CMU-Q). grammer, an They are divided into two groups entrepreneur, an as buyers and sellers and got into a information sys- makeshift trading floor. The buzz tems analyst, or a in the air grows as the students gain laboratory confidence. scientist. The activity involved around 40 Outreach students as part of CMU-Q’s out- workshops offer reach initiatives which highlight a glimpse into new academic and career paths for the four fields at youth. Nazli Bhatia, visiting assist- CMU-Q as bio- ant teaching professor of logical sciences, organisational behaviour, says, business admin- “The students were so enthusiastic, istration, the ones who finished first turned computer sci- to their friends to help them. It was ence and information systems. solve business problems; and Mind- basics of programming as they cre- a great learning experience.” “As the STEM fields of science, craft, an introduction to computing ate virtual worlds and animations.
[Show full text]
D-Company and the 1993 Mumbai Bombings: Rethinking a Case of ‘Crime-Terror Convergence’ in South Asia
Mahadevan – D-company & 1993 Mumbai Bombings 54 The European Review of Organised Crime Original article D-Company and the 1993 Mumbai Bombings: rethinking a case of ‘crime-terror convergence’ in South Asia Prem Mahadevan* Abstract: In 1993, a transnational crime organization known as D-Company carried out mass-casualty terrorist bombings in Mumbai, India. The reasons for this action have been attributed to religious grievances. However, little attention has been given to the role played by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence in supporting the bombings. Taking into account what has emerged in the public domain over the last 28 years regarding ISI links with D-Company and with international jihadist groups more generally, a re-assessment of the 1993 bombings is required. Hitherto regarded as an example of ‘crime-terror convergence’, it appears that D-Company might be more aptly considered an instrument of covert action. Keywords: Terrorism, heroin, gold, intelligence, covert operations. * Prem Mahadevan is Senior Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Email: [email protected] The European Review of Organised Crime 6(1), 2021, pp. 54-98. ISSN: 2312-1653 © ECPR Standing Group of Organised Crime. For permissions please email: [email protected] 54 Mahadevan – D-company & 1993 Mumbai Bombings 55 Introduction This article examines why the transnational crime syndicate known as ‘D-Company’ bombed the city of Mumbai in 1993. In what remains the bloodiest-ever terror incident on Indian soil, 257 civilians were killed by 12 near-synchronous explosions. The bombs had been assembled using military-grade explosive smuggled from abroad. The events of that day, Friday 12 March 1993, are considered by scholars as an example of hybridity between organized crime and political terrorism (Rollins, Wyler and Rosen, 2010: 14-16).
[Show full text]
Koel Chatterjee Phd Thesis
Bollywood Shakespeares from Gulzar to Bhardwaj: Adapting, Assimilating and Culturalizing the Bard Koel Chatterjee PhD Thesis 10 October, 2017 I, Koel Chatterjee, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 10th October, 2017 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the patience and guidance of my supervisor Dr Deana Rankin. Without her ability to keep me focused despite my never-ending projects and her continuous support during my many illnesses throughout these last five years, this thesis would still be a work in progress. I would also like to thank Dr. Ewan Fernie who inspired me to work on Shakespeare and Bollywood during my MA at Royal Holloway and Dr. Christie Carson who encouraged me to pursue a PhD after six years of being away from academia, as well as Poonam Trivedi, whose work on Filmi Shakespeares inspired my research. I thank Dr. Varsha Panjwani for mentoring me through the last three years, for the words of encouragement and support every time I doubted myself, and for the stimulating discussions that helped shape this thesis. Last but not the least, I thank my family: my grandfather Dr Somesh Chandra Bhattacharya, who made it possible for me to follow my dreams; my mother Manasi Chatterjee, who taught me to work harder when the going got tough; my sister, Payel Chatterjee, for forcing me to watch countless terrible Bollywood films; and my father, Bidyut Behari Chatterjee, whose impromptu recitations of Shakespeare to underline a thought or an emotion have led me inevitably to becoming a Shakespeare scholar.
[Show full text]
1 Bombay Dreams and Bombay Nightmares
ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE Bombay dreams and Bombay nightmares: Spatiality and Bollywood gangster ﬁlm's urban underworld aesthetic AUTHORS Stadtler, FCJ JOURNAL Journal of Postcolonial Writing DEPOSITED IN ORE 01 February 2018 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/31264 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may diﬀer from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Bombay dreams and Bombay nightmares: Spatiality and Bollywood gangster film’s urban underworld aesthetics Florian Stadtler * Department of English and Film, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK E-mail: [email protected] The importance of the city in an articulation of Indian modernity has been central to the narratives of Indian popular cinema since the 1950s. Much of the focus has been centred on Bombay/Mumbai. Especially since the mid-1970s, in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a State of Emergency, Hindi cinema has explored the structures of power that determine Bombay’s urban city space where the hero of the film encounters exponentially communal, domestic, gang, and state violence. These films put forward textured views of the cityscape and address overtly its potential for corruption and violence. In the process commercial Indian cinema challenges the city’s status as a shining example of progress and modernity. Focussing on post-millennial Indian popular film, especially Milan Luthria’s Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010), this article explores Hindi cinema’s engagement with urban violence in an age of market liberalisation, accelerated economic growth and planned expansion.
[Show full text]
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME: the INDIAN PERSPECTIVE Shankar Pratap Singh*
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME: THE INDIAN PERSPECTIVE Shankar Pratap Singh* I. A BRIEF OVERVIEW acceleration of the globalization process cannot be brought under control unless Today, a criminal considers the world various governments coordinate the as his field of operation. He commits a strategies and policies at the national crime in one country, deposits the money level with the strategies, policies and derived from criminal activities in an regulations issued at the international offshore bank in another country and level. takes refuge in yet another country. The widespread political, economic, social and technological changes as well as II. ORGANIZED CRIME—THE variations in legislation, procedures and INDIAN PERSPECTIVE policies in different countries on mutual Criminal gangs have been operating in assistance in criminal matters have India since ancient times. There is no allowed organized crime groups to firm data to indicate the number of become increasingly active in the organized criminal gangs operating in the international arena. International country, their membership, their modus criminal organizations are taking full operandi and the areas of their advantage of globalization of world operations. Thousands of organized markets, dismantling of trade barriers, criminal gangs operate in the the increased ease of international travel, countryside. Their structure and liberalized emigration policies, high-tech leadership patterns may not strictly fall communications equipment and in the classical Italian Mafia module. sophisticated money laundering They may sometimes be operating in techniques to enhance and further their loose structures, but the depredations of criminal efforts and to forge alliances such criminal gangs are too well known to with other criminal groups.
[Show full text]
Times.US PAGE 1 Times.US Globally Recognized Editor-In-Chief: Azeem A
APRIL 2018 www.Asia Times.US PAGE 1 www.Asia Times.US Globally Recognized Editor-in-Chief: Azeem A. Quadeer, M.S., P.E. APRIL 2018 Vol 9, Issue 4 Congratulations Shawkat Mohammed 90% of work-permits given to Shawkat Mohammed (Dallas) Achieved Prestigious Million Dollar Round Table ( Top of the Table ) membership H-1B visa-holders’ spouses are again this year. Indians Membership is Exclusive to World’s Leading 30 Mar 2018: 90% of work- The H-4 visa holders don’t were women, and the vast Financial Professionals. permits given to H-1B get a social security num- majority, 93%, were from visa-holders’ spouses are ber, and hence cannot be India, while 4% were from Indians employed. But they can get China.” Congratulations Shawkat Mohammed on achieving MDRT for the 6th time in a row! The United States has Your achievement is the greatest endorsement given work permits to over of your hard work and the trust your clients 71,000 spouses of H-1B visa holders, 90% of whom have put in you. are Indians. In 2015, the Obama government began issu- ing work authorization to spouses of H-1B visa holders. a driver’s license, pursue Spouses of H-1B visa hold- education and open bank Most likely yes: Will things ers who had been living account. change now that Donald in the US for six years, Trump is POTUS? and were in the process of In 2015, 80% of 1,25,000 applying for green cards, people who were issued Donald Trump in his were eligible for this pro- H-4 visas were Indians.
[Show full text]
Journal of Advances and Scholarly Research In
[JOURNAL OF ADVANCES AND SCHOLARLY RESEARCHES IN ALLIED EDUCATION VOL.-II, ISSUE - I] July , 2011 ISSN-2230-7540 Geographical and Literary Lineage in TE Works of Salman Rushdie Preeti Sharma Research Scholar, Shri Venkateshwara University, Gajraula __________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Michael J. Sandel in his book entitled Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy writes: The global media and markets that shape our lives beckon us to a world beyond boundaries and belonging. But the civic resources we need to in the places and stories, memories and meanings, incidents and identities, that situate us in the world and give our lives their moral particularity. (349) This does not rule out global systems but posits a network of the global, the national and the local. In it, while we remain encumbered in our local communities we also recognize other loyalties, and negotiate our way intelligently between them. To quote Sandel again, Self government today requires a politics that plays itself out in a multiplicity of settings, from neighborhoods to nations to the world as a whole ... The civic virtue distinctive to our time is the 1 www.ignited.in [JOURNAL OF ADVANCES AND SCHOLARLY RESEARCHES IN ALLIED EDUCATION VOL.-II, ISSUE - I] July , 2011 ISSN-2230-7540 capacity to negotiate our way among the sometimes overlapping, sometimes conflicting obligations that claim us, and to live with the tension to which multiple loyalties give rise. (350) Salman Rushdie could be best described as having multiple loyalties, even multiple belongings - to India, to Britain, to the world - rather than as having none at all.
[Show full text]
Prakash Raj INTERNATIONAL PAGES Prakash Raj (Born Prakash Rai; 26 March Prakash to Her Mentor K
MARCH 2018 www.Asia Times.US PAGE 1 www.Asia Times.US Globally Recognized Editor-in-Chief: Azeem A. Quadeer, M.S., P.E. MARCH 2018 Vol 9, Issue 3 FedEx Stubborn about Discounts NRA FedEx Corp. is maintaining discounts for some services at FedEx Office, according members of the National Rifle Associa- to company and NRA websites. NRA of- tion, even as calls for a boycott mount on ficials also didn’t immediately respond to social media after a deadly school shoot- a request for comment. ing in Florida. Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Conti- The courier said it “has never set or nental Holdings Inc. are among compa- changed rates for any of our millions of nies that cut ties with the NRA following customers around the world in response online calls to boycott the gun lobbying to their politics, beliefs or positions on group. Symantec Corp., owner of Lifelock issues.” The NRA is one of hundreds of and Simplisafe Inc.; rental car companies organizations in its alliance programs, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Avis Bud- FedEx said Monday in its first public com- get Group Inc. and insurer MetLife Inc. all ment on the matter. have cut ties to the NRA. Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. were among companies Since Sunday, the #BoycottFedEx hashtag being pressured Monday on social media has been included in more than 700 posts to drop the lobbying group’s streaming on Twitter, including one by Marjory TV channel. Stoneman Douglas high school student David Hogg that has been shared more For a look at why Delta, Hertz have more than 13,000 times.
[Show full text]
Contested Spaces: Performances of Marginality in Bollywood Cinema
Contested Spaces: Performances of Marginality in Bollywood Cinema By Lauren Bettridge B.A. (Journalism), Curtin University, 2008 B.A. (Hons), The University of Western Australia, 2009 This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia School of Humanities (Discipline of English and Cultural Studies) Supervised by Dr Shalmalee Palekar 2016 ABSTRACT As the most dominant cultural industry in India and with an increasing audience worldwide, Bollywood is becoming a louder participant in global popular culture. Challenging Eurocentric perceptions of inadequacy, this study seeks out performances of marginality that destabilise, disturb and dislocate the apparent hegemonic modality of modern Bollywood. In considering the representation of the other in popular Bollywood, I uncover marginal genres, themes, locations and gender representations. Contested Spaces: Performances of Marginality in Bollywood Cinema traverses the complex relationship between a nation and its cinema, and contributes and connects to a rapidly growing conversation with Bollywood and its others. This thesis attends to performances of marginality and otherness in popular Bollywood cinema by critically examining the production of contested spaces. In finding spaces where marginalised identities jostle for recognition, I assess the degree to which Bollywood cinema represents the Other. Driven by the urge to uncover alternative performances, I resist Bollywood scholarship that contends Bollywood cinema merely performs a conservative version of national ideology and western scholarship that subordinates Bollywood to Hollywood. I locate this thesis within a setting that contests the idea that globalisation has destroyed the nation, by demonstrating that there are radical and resistant ruptures forming at the margin.
[Show full text]
Mafia Queens of Mumbai- a Feminist- Psychoanalyst Perspective
WAFFEN-UND KOSTUMKUNDE JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0042-9945 Mafia Queens of Mumbai- A feminist- psychoanalyst perspective By Sompurba Basu Assistant Professor, Reva University, Bangalore Key Words: Underworld, Mafia, drug-trafficking, psychoanalysis, feminist Abstract The Mumbai Underworld has always been an intriguing and fascinating sphere for many authors and filmmakers alike. Vishal Bharadwaj himself says that crime is juicier than spirituality, guns are more attractive than roses and perhaps, his adherence to this notion is predominant in his movies too, where crime plays a major role. The Mumbai drug-trafficking business which is an integral part of the Mumbai Mafia, didn‟t go untreated by him. The resultant by-product was the film, „Kaminey‟. When we come to authors, we have Vikram Chandra, whose book, „Sacred Games‟ has been made into a popular web-series in Netflix. Perhaps, the best crime writer to emerge into prominence is S. Hussain Zaidi, who is a veteran journalist, currently working as the resident editor of Deccan Chronicle/Asian Age, Mumbai. His bestselling book, „Black Friday‟, based on the 1993 serial bomb blasts was filmed by the very talented Anurag Kashyap in the year, 2004. His intense research on the Mumbai Mafia has been monumental in the production of all his Bestsellers and various movies. In this paper we will take into consideration his book, “Mafia Queens of Mumbai”, which depicts the lives of the very gutsy and lethal women mafia of Mumbai, their psychological complexities and the crisis, which pushed them beyond the limitations of human morality. Though he writes, not to pedestalize this pernicious race, yet we cannot ignore the feminist touch and sympathetic treatment to these women, which we can also term as the writer‟s folly.
[Show full text]
A Case Study of Mumbai City? Sumita Sarkar* & Arvind Tiwari?
Combating Organised Crime A Case Study of Mumbai City? Sumita Sarkar* & Arvind Tiwari? Organised crime is not confined to the boundaries of any one country and has become a transnational problem. Organised criminal activity has existed in different forms since ancient times, but contemporary patterns of organised crime are infinitely more complex than they have been at any point of time in history. This paper places the specific case of organised crime in the city of Mumbai within the context of transnational trends in criminal activity. It first examines the larger international discourse on organised crime, clarifying concepts and outlining the nature and magnitude of various component phenomena across the globe. The paper then passes on to an assessment of trends in the operation of gangs and organised crime in Mumbai, the socio- demographic profile, ethnic background, religion and international dynamics of gangsters in the city and the ? This paper was presented at the All India Criminology Conference, organised by the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi, November 1-3, 2001. * Sumita Sarkar is a Doctoral Candidate at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. ? Arvind Tiwari is Reader, Department of Criminology and Correctional Administration, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. international dynamics of gangsterism, contract killing, etc. Some combative strategies adopted to deal with organised crime in the city are also dealt with. I. Organised Crime: Conceptual Framework Contemporary technologies and the emerging world order have undermined the conventional parameters of state sovereignty and the inviolability of national boundaries.
[Show full text]
Several Parliamentary Panels Get New Heads, Deputies
Eye on the News [email protected] Truthful, Factual and Unbiased Vol:IX Issue No:219 Price: Afs.15 Weekend Issue, Sponsored by Etisalat FRIDAY . MARCH 13. 2015 -Hoot 22, 1393 H.S www.facebook.com/ afghanistantimes www.twitter.com/ afghanistantime Several parliamentary panels Notorious Taliban leader get new heads, deputies killed in Baghlan offensive KABUL: A number of Wolesi speaker, Abdur Rauf Inami as sec- secretary of the women affairs, chief and Syed Nader Shah as sec- Jirga commissions have held retary and Irfanullah Irfan as dep- civil society and human rights com- retary. Inami added Zakaria Saw- elections for appointing their uty secretary. Based on the house mission. Mohammad Nangyal was da, Abdur Rahman Shaidani and administrative board chiefs, rules of business, lawmakers have elected as head, Rahila Salim as Saifora Ilkhani were elected as head, deputy head and secretary of the natural resource and envi- ronment protection commission. Kamal Naser Osuli was elected as head, Khalilullah Shahidzada as deputy head and Lailuma Wali Hukmi as secretary of the com- mission on religious, education and cultural affairs. Likewise, Mir Rha- man Rahmani was chosen as head and Safia Aimaq as secretary of the national economy and agricultural PUL-I-KHUMRI: A notorious Himmat Khail, Shafi Khail, Hus- three days, we had been and livestock commission. Taliban commander has been killed sein Khail, Zaman Khail and Mu- trapped in crossfire. Mohammad Naeem Hamidzai during a clearing operation in the ghala localities had been cleared of Today the fighting is over and Lalai, Abdul Wadood Popal and Baghlan-e-Markazi district of insurgents.
[Show full text]