DAWOOD IBRAHIM

Dawood’s Mentor: The Man Who Made India’s Biggest Don by S. Hussain Zaidi; Published by Penguin; Pages 300; Price Rs 399/-

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Oliver Cromwell instructed his painter Peter Levy “ I would like my portrait to depict me with “pimples, warts and everything.”

If you want a portrait of Mumbai with “pimples.warts and everything” you have to merely read the books of S.Hussain Zaidi.

S. Hussain Zaidi is a crime writer, known for his popular books, Black Friday, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, Dongri to Dubai and Byculla to Bangkok. Two of these, Black Friday and Shootout at Wadala are successful Bollywood movies. His latest book, Dawood’s Mentor, focuses on Dawood Ibrahim and Khalid Khan Bachcha.

Dawood and Indian mafia are as inextricably intertwined as Al Capone and Mafia in USA. India’s goondas acquired a new sheen after this half-penny villain from the bylanes of Nagpada became the underworld’s Monarch- the emperor of all he surveyed.

Ambitious and intelligent, he outshone the Indian mafia and became a figure to conjure with.

S. Hussain Zaidi has acquired an aura as the chronicler of Goondagiri –virtually the last word on the subject.

The book under review concentrates on the one man who transformed Dawood into a cerebral don with an established seat in the underworld. Lording over the manifold activities of mafia demands as much intellect and intelligence as is summoned up in a world of business. Khalid Pehelwaan has successfully proved to be Goonda Guru whose Sishya proved admirably adept.

Khalid, an educated Pathan from Bhopal who came to Mumbai to become something in life became the mainspring of the underworld. The book leaps forward and backward with consummate ease traversing the Seventies dotted with the skirmishes between Dawood and the Pathan gang and a foray into how Khalid entered into Mumbai and became Bashu Dada’s right-hand man, Khalid’s extraordinary success, meeting Dawood, break-up with Bashu and joining hands with Dawood and ultimately leading to him leaving Dawood on a friendly note . Covered too are the current encounters of Zaidi with Khalid.

From the word Go there is a sustained pace in the narrative from the beginning where he discusses the attack on Dawood by Pathan gang’s Amirzada and Alamzeb to introducing  the Pathan in Dawood’s life. With remarkable speed events unfold and we are privy to the thought process of Khalid.

There is highly effective characterisation and each personality is deftly portrayed .

The reader is entertained by the real-life drama .Learn all you want to know about Khalid , his business dealings, his links with Bashu Dada and Dawood. Information on Dawood’s father, Pathans in India and how dealings are recounted.

If you love Hussain Zaidi’s books, here is one more riveting book. Though not as grand as his previous books, it is still a chip off the old block.

According to author Hussain Zaidi, Khalid had left an indelible impression in Dawood's mind.

"Khalid had taught him the felicity to survive against the heaviest odds. Khalid's lessons never went waste with Dawood," .Tired of being bullied, a scrawny, impoverished Dawood Ibrahim is looking for a saviour, Khalid Khan Bachcha, who would teach him the ropes of handling a bunch of hooligans.

In Dawood's Mentor, Dawood meets Khalid and they eventually forge an unlikely friendship. Together they defeat, crush and neutralise every mafia gang in Mumbai. Khalid lays the foundation for the D-Gang as Dawood goes on to establish a crime syndicate like no other and becomes India's most wanted criminal. A good engrossing entertainer.

P.P.Ramachandran.

14/06/2020.