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.