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Khallas
The underworld-politics-film industry nexus is well known. This book has a snap of Haji Mastan with Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, which may be innocuous as far as the thespian is concerned, but does indicate the don’s proximity to Bollywood. Nonetheless it is political proximity that is more chilling. Vishvanath Katade was barely 17 when he and his friends were given supari to kill Krishna Desai, a CPI MLA, to "fight for the rights of Marathi manoos". Dey indicates that the killing was done to enable Shiv Sena’s electoral victory from the Parel-Lalbaug area. As a journalist on crime beat Dey has had opportunities to study various aspects and persons related to Mumbai’s underworld. Although the slangs and snippets — presented in alphabetical order — are brief these are as spine-tingling as any gangster movie. Over to Ram Gopal Verma. Recollections Of An Indian
Doctor
These lines, paraphrased from the 18th century British poet William Cowper’s Olney Hymns, sum up the sentiments of most persons who are now in their twilight years. But quite a few handle nostalgia with wisdom and aplomb and fill the "aching void" with positive attitude and constructive activities. Jaggi is obviously one such person. He is not the one who rues the loss of youth or, in Osborne’s words, "looks forward to the past" but comes up with an interesting book, wherein apart from getting glimpses of the author’s personal and professional life you get the benefit of his words of wisdom.
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Tere
marne se main jeu to tu mar ja
(if your death ensures that I live then you die) — this phrase
attributed to the mafia don Dawood Ibrahim has become a credo of sorts
for Mumbai’s gangsters, indicating that the denizens of the underworld
have to be wary not only of the police but also have to watch their
backs against fellow criminals. Barring a few exceptions, most of them
meet violent deaths. Much before Dawood became notorious there were
others like Haji Mastan — arguably the original don who inspired films
like Deewar — Karim Lala and Varadhraj Mudaliar who dominated
the metro’s crime scene during 1970s-80s. Even today many youngsters,
not all of them lumpens, dream of becoming kings of crime. And yes, here
too gender equality has come into play; women gangsters like Kajal,
Priya Rajput and Ritu Divekar have already made their presence felt on
the crimescape.
What youthful hours I once
enjoyed!