Book review
Rating 3.5/5
Disclaimer- this is only the review of the book on the lines written by the author! None of it is my personal opinion!
No spoilers as it’s non fiction! But believe me facts are stranger than fiction!!
My first Hussain Zaidi was the Dongri to Dubai followed by black friday!
If you have also read these then you know how Hussain Zaidi is the literal encyclopaedia of Mumbai underworld!
Every page is a script for a movie or a series! Even the director Vishal who has given a foreword mentions that Hussain had been immense help for his movie Kaminey!
So the book concentrates on only the ladies!
Moving like a dictionary, Husain has divided the book into individual biggies like the sister of Haji Mastaan then moving on to a queen of the red light area! Then come the wives, girlfriends, mistresses and bar dancers!
So the book starts with the sister of Haji and Vardan Dons! And also the mother like figure to Dawood Ibrahim! How she was instrumental in the dons of Mumbai truce! Of course her rise and fall is narrated as clear as possible!
Then you have the Matriarch of Kamathipura who even silenced Nehru apparently as the story goes! The way the red light area and the prostituting is described was bang on!
The next story was of Ashraf or Sapna didi who almost made hell for Dawood to extract a revenge! Why and how is an interesting read which I will leave it to you!
Then you are treated to the big bad world of drugs and you meet the most formidable narco queen ever! Mahalaxmi Papamani! The disciple of don Varda and a force to reckon with!
The chapter called Monsters moll deals mainly with the very infamous Monica Bedi and her love affair with Abu Salem! This was a flavourful page turner penned by Monica’s own narration!
The next chapter deals with the wives of dons namely Padma the wife of Rajan’s aide Ravi Poojari, Sujata the wife of Chhota Rajan, Asha the wife of Arun Gawli and Ashwin Naik’s wife Neeta! More domestic control of underworld!
The gangster girls were Mrs Paul and Rubina Siraj! Even this chapter was a bollywood masala movie script!
The final chapter was of the bar gals! Tarannum and Archana! From dancing to cricket betting; you get the juice!
Like I mentioned before, the narration is crisp and engaging!
The very notion that most of it is true makes it an interesting read!
Although the violence and description is less but when it comes the rest assured it is gruesome and cruel!
Some stories start well and end so abruptly while others go out with a bang! Which is real life where nothing is consistent!
The simple language and familiar settings and character makes it an easy to read book!
Kudos to Hussain for his meticulous research and his dramatization of events to make it easier to read and imagine!
Read at your own risk and remember that even girls can be don!
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