From Dongri to Dubai by Hussain Zaidi
Book review
Non fiction with I am assuming some creative liabilities!
Rating 3.5/5
Disclaimer- This is a review of only the book and the opinions of the author! None of what follows is my personal view! I am a normal family man and I don’t have any opinion which I want to state here!
So if there was a definitive encyclopaedia about Mumbai underworld then this is it!
Every page of this spicy page turner and every chapter can be made into a movie and many have been done too!
So almost every Don from Haji Mastan to Vardarajan Mudaliar to Karim Lala to the Byculla company and finally the chota Rajan and Shakeel! But the lead Star is the one Don who is still reigning the top mantle; and that’s Dawood Ibrahim!
Every major incident has been dramatised to the last detail and thus every chapter brings more spice to the story!
Starting from Mastan and Mudaliar, Hussain stars and dissects the meteoritic rise of Dawood in spite of being the son of a religious and pious constable!
Every encounter including the first one by Afaaque Baagwan of the gangster Manya Surve which was shown in the movie Shootout at Wadala has been described with such fine detail!
In fact even the famous movie shootout at Lokhandwala has been described!
Not to mention the killing of big wigs by d company like shah and Gulshan
The extortion, killing, rape, smuggling and finally the communal bombing has been described to minute details!
In an almost idolizing manner Hussain describes the exploits of many Dons with the mammoth share reserved for Dawood!
The controversial bollywood and political connection is the icing on the cake!
In a manner of description this really feels like describing a company! Where previously only Muslims were members of the D Company, Khaled (Dawood’s right hand!) Opened the doors to Hindus! Very secular indeed!!
Then the culmination in Mumbai bombings (which has been described better in his book and subsequent movie Black Friday!). The chief reason why the whole bombing happened was because the rioters dared to gut the office of Tiger Memon!
The Pakistan connection, the ISI connection, the Dubai connections and the intelligence connections! Every aspect has been given adequate space!
Finally the turf war between Dawood’s deputies like chota Rajan and Chota Shakeel! Then Abu Saleem!
Then the beautiful but dumb actresses who fall for the bad guys!
Then you have the multiple Sholay connections which you must read to understand!
At the end of it all though it’s always the big fishes who escape while the smaller ones do all the work and get caught! It’s the same story everywhere!
Some attempt at humanizing Dawood is obvious but then it doesn’t really work!
Many famous movies have been made by using this and characters from this book ! Memorable ones include Deewar, D, Company, once upon a time in Mumbai, the shoot out series and black Friday to name a few!
So if you want to read the inspiration behind those movies and even sacred games (incidentally Vikram Chandra gives a foreward!); Then you must surely give this one a go!
There is so much information that it’s difficult to pen it in a short review! And many of the pages though real, they feel like fiction! As they say truth is stranger than fiction! The book will definitely prove that right!
Once again a disclaimer that this is only Hussain Zaidi’s opinion and not mine!
Enjoy!
ramadocblog 