Dongri to Dubai

Paperback, 408 pages
Published by Roli Books
RS 350

Do lives of criminal masterminds appeal you?

If, 'yes' then this book is meant for you.  

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“Dongri to Dubai” reveals nearly six decades of Mumbai Mafia actions through nerve-racking narrating. The blurb at the back is enough to tempt you to go after the book. S.Hussain Zaidi begins his intriguing narrative of the Mumbai underworld through a telephonic conversation between him and the infamous Dawood Ibrahim (which is also recorded as the last published interview of the Mumbai Mafia Don).Thus, the opening begins with suspense.

With modest beginnings during the Post – Independence time's formations of small gangs, the book records the growth, activities and varying illicit trends in revenue generation of the Mumbai Mafia. It also sketches the vanished Bombay villains such as the feared trio Karim Lala, the flashy Haji Mastan and the quintessential don Varadarajan Mudaliar alias Vardha bhai, and how each of them established themselves in then Bombay while taking up to other forms of crime. Though their lives have been explored in details, but that only forms the background.  The cream of the book is the story of the son of a Mumbai head constable whose unrestrained childhood ultimately turns him as the don of Mumbai: Daud Ibrahim.

For this reviewer it's the story-like narrative, information and facts that have been portrayed against the backdrop of a nail-biting thriller. It's also curiously tinted with historical facts and terms of the Indian underground. For instance, the origin of the 'Rampuri chaku', the basis of gang formation while following the first record-keeper of  Bombay police during the colonial times. These are followed by chapters touching over several milestones in the history of the criminal world of India; from the rise of the Pathans, formation of the Dawood gang, the first ever 'Supari'(contract killing), Indian Mafia's nefarious role in Bollywood, Dawood's move to Karachi, and  to Pakistan's subsequent alleged role in sheltering one of the most wanted criminals in today's world.

The second part of the book is Dawood Ibrahim's life that has been written at a greater length. Right from his childhood days in Dongri ,  a Muslim-dominated area , where his father was not only a well-respected, but a trustworthy constable, Dawood's first robbery, love affair from to his transition from a local muscleman to what he became later. It chronicles how the boy from Dongri became a don in Dubai and what captured his audacity, cunningness, focus, ambition followed by an unending lust for power. The meticulously researched book provides an in-depth and comprehensive account of the Indian Mafia's games with internecine warfare for gaining supremacy of one over the other.

But no other character beats the thrill of Daud's story.

Since his teen days, Dawood Ibrahim went from being a street urchin of Suburban Dongri to one of the world's most wanted terrorist and it's here where Zaidi has focused in “Dongri to Dubai”. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar's life can be described as that of a Bollywood movie. Simultaneously it's also the story of D-Company”. It's based on this crime syndicate that even Bollywood ran a sequel of gangster movies portraying Dawood Ibrahim. The second oldest son of the Kaskar family had a criminal bent of mind even before he turned ten. He was raised in a poor family and always dreamed of being rich and powerful. He and his elder brother Sabir were the ring leaders of their gang which used to commit small cons in then Bombay's Crawford market, little did anyone know that this small kid would grow up to give birth to one of the most feared crime syndicate. The criminal mastermind had a very cool, cunning, calculating mind. He somehow at a very early age perceived that nothing matters more in this world than money and power, and everyone from politicians to policemen, to the man on the street needed them.

Dawood like many at the time was attracted to the infamous Haji Mastan's lifestyle. Namely: Mastan's clean and trademark white clothes, chauffeur driven Mercedes-Benz and the glitzy mansion at Peddar Road.  Mastan was also the first celebrity gangster of Bombay during the swinging 70's, who had been involved from smuggling to financing movies, as the newer areas of the crime trade were just flourishing. He was widely respected in all circles and was the Godfather of his time. While reading it was fascinating to follow that how the rules of the underworld, in those days were defined in the light of cultural and religious settings. The gangster was romanticized by the teens of that bygone era.

The book is an important source of information for anyone who wants to understand the criminal world of what was known as Bombay between the early fifties till the late nineties. Born and raised in the suburbs of Mumbai, Author S Hussain Zaidi has covered the Mumbai mafia for over two decades as a crime reporter for different Media agencies. A few could have done the job better as he did.

The movie-poster like cover adds a colour to its content. The series of photos inside are revealing as it speaks of a bygone era of the gangster culture in india.