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WHEN one chooses to write about women’s accounts of all that is murky, gory, sleazy and scandalous, one can’t help employing the poetic license to all justiciable limits—sometimes extolling the inherent virtues of their persona and at others, depicting their limitless wily disposition.
"Lady Macbeth is more complex and fascinating a character than Macbeth or King Duncan. Madam Bovary, Anna Karenina, Phoolan Devi, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are, to me, much more interesting than their male counterparts," says Vishal Bhardwaj, the noted filmmaker in his foreword to the book. The book deals with 13 women characters from the Mumbai’s underworld. These women remained in limelight, contemporaneous with dons like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Dawood Ibrahim, Abu Salem, Chhota Rajan, Chhota Shakeel, Hussain Ustara, Arun Gawli et al. Zainab Darwesh Gandhi, alias Jenabai, was the earliest known stalwart who did take part in the freedom movement, but graduated to first become a rice hoarder, and then a bootlegger tycoon, who had under her influence titans like Haji Mastan and who also was instrumental in facilitating a truce between the warring Pathan factions to take on the might of Chillyas—Gujrati Muslims who monopolised the real estate arm-twisting and eviction ventures and tactics. Ganga Hajeevandas Kathiawadi came from an affluent family of Kathiawad, who eloped with an accountant, on being drugged and lured into the dream city of "cars, men and movies" but was left to fend for herself in the red light zones, and who summoned up courage to meet and seek help from none other than the dreaded Karim Lala himself, in avenging her exploitation by a sadist and pervert Pathan by one Sahuqat Khan. She then became "Bade Ghar Wali" patronising the cause of the sex workers at no less a platform than Azad Maidan itself and even met Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to take up their cause. This reviewer’s favourite is "Femme Fettle", dwelling in detail on the life and struggle of Ashraf, reincarnated as Sapna, in her fight against Dawood Ibrahim, who tipped the cops into "encountering" her husband Mehmood at Santa Cruz airport. With the help of Hussain Ustara, she got herself trained in the art of shooting and self-defence and undertook expeditions into Nepal to take on Dawood’s men and destroy his weapons consignment. She spent days and nights collecting information on Dawood’s gambling dens, thus rendering him a severe blow in men and materials in Mumbai. Ustara sought her bodily proximity and was almost mad in his seeking her, but all in vain since her purpose in life was to eliminate Dawood, even at a place like the cricket stadium in Sharjah. On Ustara’s "undesirable" advances on her one night, when she was being chased by Dawood’s men, she slapped him hard and left him forever. Ustara regretted it and despite his coming to know of Dawood’s plans to eliminate her through Chhota Shakeel, he could not contact her. She was done to death brutally with a score stabs in her private parts and breasts. Ustara too was murdered having been caught off guard during one of his lusty misadventures. Then there are the tales of a narco-trio, Mahalaxmi Papamani, Jyoti and Savitri. These women had a clout of sorts and orchestrated their illicit trade through cops and peddlers alike. Their expertise made them so filthy rich that they could employ the best of the lawyers to defend them. Papamani carried Rs 40,000-50,000 to be donated or loaned to the needy amongst her clientele daily. People had her framed portrait in their houses and had her busts made after her death. Then there are Monica Bedi and Abu Salem. One may be curious to know how could an educated girl fell for a gangster. But then, if you believe Monica, she came to know of it when she had reached a point of no return, "I made the mistake of falling in love with him". Arsalan, alias Abu Salem, of Azam Garh, had "blood" of the likes of Gulshan Kumar on his hands, when he tricked Monica into matrimony, calling her to Dubai on the pretext of hosting an event, when all her initial films had bombed off. With Abu’s connections, Monica got films like Jodi No.1 and Ishq, Pyar aur Muhabbat which made her a star in no time. She took to Bible and kept scurrying for small screen on her return to India from Portugal along with Abu Salem. She was also hired for "Big Boss". The book briefly touches some Hindu dons wives’ roll, including Asha Gawli, Neeta Naik, Sujata Nikhalje, and Padma Poojari; bewitching beauties, Tarnnum Khan, the bar dancer, and Archana Sharma, aka Manisha; ganglord’s girls Shameem Miraaza Beg, aka Mrs Paul, and Rubina Siraj Sayyad. But all queens depicted here are humanly women!
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S. Hussain Zaidi, a
veteran journalist and author of the thriller Black Friday, on
which a movie was made by the redoubtable Anurag Kahsyap, has done
enough research while penning down the life and times of the Mafia
Queens of Mumbai, with the skill, talent and acumen of a raconteur
par excellence. Jane Borges is the co-author.