ENCOUNTER WITH HAJI MASTAN IN HYDERABAD--HAJI MASTAN'S LIFE AGAIN ON SILVER SCREEN

BY C R GOWRI SHANKER

HAJI MASTAN

Super Star Rajanikant's upcoming film "Kaala karikalan" shot in Mumbai slums is in the news. The film is reportedly based on the life of alleged underworld don Haji Mastan.

There were several Bollywood films in the past, one a super hit Deewar starring Amitabh Bachchan, another Once upon a time in Mumbai starring Ajay Devgan having traits of Haji Mastan's life but the film makers deny it and assert it's a "fiction."

Rajani's son in law Dhanush too went into denial mode after Mastan's foster son Sundar Shaekar warned not to show Haji Mastan in bad light or call him smuggler!

Haji Mastan led a king size life style and revered as messaiah of poor and downtrodden, especially among slum dwellers of Mumbai during his life time.

HAJI MASTAN HYDERABAD CONNECTION

Haji Mastan had Hyderabad connection. 

He had relatives and friends. I was invited for an interview with Haji Mastan on his philanthropic activities in Mumbai and his plans to take up in Hyderabad too on February 20, 1989.

One of his associates who was looking after his new organisation called me up and requested me to meet him in person.

I along with Deccan Chronicle colleagues Joseph Nathan, Mohd. Abdul Mannan and Danny (Dhananjaya), photographer met him in a palatial house in Banjara hills, Hyderabad, a stone's throw from KBR Park in  the afternoon.

He warmly welcomed us and spoke on various issues including politics. We had tea and snacks.  

But during the two hours he would not say he is or was a smuggler or don!

'Mein business man hunn.. smuggler Nahi" (I am a businessman, not a smuggler) he quipped when asked on being called underworld Don and smuggler. But not in so many words he admitted his writ runs in Bombay.

He narrated an incident while coming from Hyderabad airport to the Banjara Hills residence in car. 

For flouting of law, he was challaned by a police man on his way to Banjara Hills. "This would not have happened in Bombay (now Mumbai). None would dare to stop my car and do that to me" he retorted. To avoid escalation of the issue, he paid the challan without identifying who he was.

Frail looking Haji Mastan claimed that he was wrongly projected as a mafia don and smuggler when in fact he was a business man, social worker.

"I help the hapless poor in Mumbai, particularly those living in Johpadpattis and other parts of the country through his charitable organisations and subsequent political party", he asserts.

But he was lively and spoke on films, politics etc during the informal chat. We had a fairly good interview.

Haji Mastan spoke more about his philanthropic works, political activity and avoided digging his past. He parried questions on underworld activities in Bombay.

However, after coming back to office our Editor PNV Nair asked me how the interview went on. I said it was good but told him that he would not like to talk about bygone days and wanted to speak on his political and charitable activities.

Nair, paused for a minute and said no to the interview saying "we should not encourage underworld mafia" !

Haji Mastan had launched Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh (Indian Minorities Protection League) is a social and political organization registered as a political party in Mumbai, earlier Bombay until his death in 1994.

From 1994  till date, the BMSM chairman has been Sundar Shaekhar. 

In the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 BMSM fielded three candidates in Maharashtra and got 8000 odd votes. It also fielded Bano Bee in Madhya Pradesh.

He was planning to launch his outfit in Andhra Pradesh, particularly Hyderabad.

    

 From Left: Mannan, C R Gowri Shanker, Haji Mastan and Joseph Nathan

Haji Mastan:

Birth: 1 March 1926
Ramanathapuram, Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu, India

Death: 25 June 1994 (aged 68)
Mumbai, Mumbai City, Maharashtra, India

Burial
Badakabarastan
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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Don't depict him as smuggler and don: Haji Mastan's son warns Rajinikanth

Deccan Chronicle | DC Correspondent

Published on: May 13, 2017 | Updated on: May 13, 2017

Depicting him as smuggler and underworld don is highly unacceptable and defamatory, says Sundar Shaekhar.

Haji Mastan Mirza and Rajnikanth
Chennai: Amid speculation that Rajinikanth's next film with director Pa Ranjith will be based on the life of Mumbai underworld don, late Haji Mastan Mirza, a Tamil Muslim who had migrated to Mumbai, a warning letter from Sundar Shaekhar, who claims that he is an adopted son of the don, has asked the star not to depict Haji Mastan as a 'smuggler and an underworld don' in the movie.
Any such attempt will attract legal action, a letter from him to the superstar said.
Confirming that he had sent a notice to Rajnikanth, Sundar Shaekhar told Deccan Chronicle over phone that late Haji Mastan Mirza, who hailed from Tamil Nadu was a businessman and founder of Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh.
"Depicting him as smuggler and underworld don is highly unacceptable and defamatory. He was never convicted in any court for smuggling or underworld activities," he said.
He further said that it would be apt for Rajnikanth to discuss about the life of Haji Masthan with him.
"I am interested in making a biopic on him as am a producer and a registered life time member of Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association," he said.

Hrithik Roshan as Haji Mastan?

Deccan Chronicle | DC Correspondent

Published on: November 9, 2019 | Updated on: November 9, 2019

The actor has been approached by his Guzaarish director for a role in Alia Bhatt's Gangubai Kathiawadi . 

       Hrithik Roshan

Even as Hrithik Roshan ponders over whether to give his nod to Farah Khan’s Seven a.k.a Sattrangi, he has been approached to portray a very serious role for the Alia Bhatt starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi by his Guzaarish maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

While some say that the actor has refused the film, others insist that he is awaiting Farah’s final narration of her film before he takes a call on what to do next.

Gangubai Kathiawadi is a female-driven film and there is a very interesting character of Haji Mastan in it. 

"Bhansali has been in talks with Hrithik Roshan for that role, but Hrithik wants to do something significant after WAR.

The success of the film and its entry into the `300 crore club has suddenly put pressure on an actor," says our source adding that Hrithik now has to decide whether to go in for a commercial project or a film that has been draped in art as is the case of SLB’s films.

Gangubai was sold off to the red light area by her boyfriend and even though she ran many brothels, she was a mother figure to the girls in Kamathipura. 

Her photo frame still adorns many walls in Mumbai’s red light district.

Alia had played a minor role compared to Ranveer in Gully Boy and if Hrithik declines the offer, it would be a good chance for the Jayeshbhai Jordaar actor to do a quid pro quo depending on his dates. So time will tell who will greenlight the redlight film.

Found this interesting writeup

The Outlaws of Bombay (EP02): Haji Mastan

July 2, 2022

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Written by Swapnali Kadam

Mastan Mirza, famously called Haji Mastan , is arguably called the biggest name in the smuggling industry of Bombay, who rose from extreme poverty to a city revolving around him is really something not so regular and one would need a case study on how a person with such serious allegations went to become a public servant through politics and also produced films.

Born in 1926 in Madras Presidency, Haji Mastan originally known as Mastan Haider Mirza at the age of eight migrated with his father to Mumbai.

The father son duo ran a small cycle repairing shop in Crawford market which wasn’t enough to feed the family. 

Ten years later in the year 1944, Bawa joined Bombay docks as a porter and this changed his life forever.

He worked in association with Karim Lala and by the 1960s he became a rich man. He even started financing his money in Bollywood and became a film producer.

Amitabh Bachchan whose character in Deewar was influenced by Mastan met him personally along with Salim. 

Being a film producer he had good relations with many of the stars of the yesteryears such as Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dharmendra, Firoze Khan and even Sanjeev Kumar.

Very early in his career, Mastan realised the importance of being seen among famous personalities from politics and the film industry as a symbol of power. 

Therefore, he deliberately hobnobbed among the city's rich and famous and was frequently seen with Bollywood personalities at public functions. 

Mastan was arguably the most influential mafia don of his time.

At his peak, Mastan operated a powerful smuggling syndicate to Mumbai and along the Gujarat coast and later diversified into film financing and real estate business. 

Mastan was known to be a shrewd businessman and a cunning deal-maker. He always maintained friendly relations with the police and government officials and often promoted peace between rival gangs, and was good friends with Lala and Mudaliar.

Haji Mastan was not a dreaded don because never in his life he had killed anyone or shot a bullet on another. 

But you cannot deny the fact that he was a mobster and was a big time smuggler who reigned for 20 years.

Though Haji Mastan wasn’t a dreadful criminal he gave birth to all the dreadful gangsters, especially Dawood Ibrahim who became his successor and changed the face of the Indian Mafia once and for all.

The likes of modern-day gangsters – Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan, Chhota Shakeel, Arun Gowli – were all trained by Haji Mastan. 

He taught them the nitty-gritties of international smuggling, a craft he was a master at. 

He always asked them to stay away from ending human lives, through drugs, guns or any other means.
Responsible for hundreds of deaths, collectively, they were the mutants of his class. 

Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan, and Chhota Shakeel have built their empires through fear of death. Their lieutenants did the actual killings.

Haji Mastan fell madly in love with the famous Bollywood actress, Sona, and married her. 

He adored her so much that he even financed a few movies for her, and gifted her a bungalow situated near actor Dev Anand’s house, in Juhu.

After leaving smuggling behind, Haji Mastan entered politics and floated ‘Laghumati Muslim Dal’. 

He owned a huge mansion in the posh locality off Peddar Road, opposite Sophia College. 

He joined hands with anti-drug abuse activists like Dr. Yusuf Merchant and implored the youth to stay away from killer drugs. 

Haji Mastan Mirza 68 years
Born 1926 Panaikulam, Madras Presidency Tamil Nadu
Died: Cardiac arrest at the Breach Candy hospital in southern Bombay on 25 June 1994.

Haji Mastan was born in 1926 in a Tamil Muslim family in Panaikulam in Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu) of British India.  

He lived in the coastal town of Cuddalore before migrating to Bombay now Mumbai with his father at the age of 8. 

He started doing odd jobs as a small boy in the famous Crawford Market and soon joined the shipyard docks as coolie.

During his early twenties, due to the high import duty on gold, people started smuggling gold from overseas. 

Working in the docks made it easy for him to participate in smuggling and soon Mastan started his own business. 

Mastan began making a decent sum of money by diverting his sectors into this business. 

At an early age he also went on Hajj. Mastan joined hands with Sukkur Narayan Bakhia, a smuggler from Daman to control the illegal items smuggled into Mumbai and Daman from the Gulf countries.

He purchased properties at various locations in South Bombay including a sea-facing bungalow at Peddar Road. He lived in a small room built on the roof of his bungalow.

Later, he ventured into film financing later in his life, providing producers in Mumbai with some much-needed funds. 

He eventually turned into a film producer himself. He also had business interests in real estate, electronic goods, and hotels. He owned several electronic shops in Musafir Khana near Crawford Market.

Mastan maintained good relations with the other gang leaders. 

When inter-gang rivalry in Mumbai began to increase, he called all the top gang leaders together and split Mumbai between the gangs so that they could operate without coming into conflict. 

In this the mafia queen, Jenabai Daruwali helped him. 

Earlier Jenabai was known as Chavalvali, as she was doing business of selling ration in lack market. 

But as she was ambitious, she developed contacts with the then liquor producer and seller, Varadarajan Mudaliar alias Varda Bhai. After this, she came to be known as Jenabai Daruwali.

Jenabai had good relations with Mastan, the Dawood Ibrahim family, and Karim Lala Pathan. 

So, with the consent of Mastan she arranged a meeting of all rivals under one roof of Mastan's Pedder Road bungalow called Batul Suroor.

Later in life, Mastan did not take a direct role in running his gang, but instead, he depended on right-hand men like Lala and Mudaliar to carry out his smuggling operations and intimidate rivals and debtors.

Mastan was especially close to Mudaliar as they were both from Tamil Nadu.

When Mudaliar died, Mastan hired a private chartered plane to bring his body to Mumbai for the final rites.

During the Emergency in 1975, he was imprisoned. While in jail, he was influenced by the ideals of politician Jaiprakash Narayan.  

After his release from prison, Mastan entered politics and formed a political party in 1980-81 and named it Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985 which was later renamed as Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Maha Sangh led by Sundar Shekhar.

India Today

Haji Mastan's daughters, aide family battle over his multi-crore property

Twelve years after his death, a bitter battle has broken out between Mastan's daughters and the family of his aide over his multi-crore property.

Mumbai Mirror

Haji Mastan's adopted son wins property case 

Nov 7, 2007, 02.34 AM IST 

The adopted son of late Haji Mastan has been given possession of a disputed property on Mohammed Ali Road that used to be the office of the smuggler-turnedsocial worker’s political party. 

Sunder Shekhar’s claim to the property had been contested by Mastan’s daughter Shamshad Supariwala. 

Their dispute landed in the small causes court, which found that the documents submitted by Supariwala supporting her claim were fabricated. 

On Tuesday, the court restricted Supariwala from dis-possessing Shekhar from the Mohammed Ali Road property.

Shekhar’s advocate J S Raymond said, “Shamshad had tried to forcefully enter the premises and dislodge my client. However, after Tuesday’s order, she cannot enter the office without following the procedures of law.”

Sunder Shekhar laim to the property had been contested by Mastan’s daughter Shamshad Supariwala Mastan’s daughter Shamshad Supariwala Shekhar’s advocate J S Raymond said, “Shamshad had tried to forcefully enter the premises and dislodge my client. 

However, after Tuesday’s order, she cannot enter the office without following the procedures of law.” 

Shekhar said, “Baba (Mastan) loved me very much. My sister Shamshad is interested in my father’s property but she is not willing to take up his social commitments.” 

Supariwala told Mumbai Mirror, “I will abide by the court’s orders but why should I speak to you when I don’t know who are you.”

CASE BACKGROUND 

Haji Mastan Mirza popularly known as Haji Mastan was a well-known smuggler of the 1970s. 

The character played by Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Deewar’ is loosely based on Mastan. 

In 1989, Mastan launched a political party with its office at 410, Arcadia building, Mohammed Ali Road. 

After his death, Sunder Shekhar and Shamshad Supariwala fought over his property, including the one on Mohammed Ali Road, and his political legacy. 

On August 2, Shekhar obtained a temporary order from the small causes court supporting his claim to the party office. 

On Tuesday, when the court found that documents submitted by Supariwala were fabricated, it granted a permanent ad-interim order favouring Shekhar till the final disposal of the case.

Mumbai Mirror

Mastan’s house up for grabs

/ Feb 3, 2016, 04.03 AM IST

FEUD BETWEEN DON HAJI MASTAN’S DAUGHTERS AND HIS TRUSTED AIDE KARIM'S CHILDREN, OVER HIS PEDDAR ROAD BUNGALOW, TO BE SETTLED OUT OF COURT

More than three decades after the death of the legend-making ’70s gold smuggler Haji Mastan, his iconic Peddar Road bungalow, Baitul Suroor (Abode of Happiness), is likely to emerge from the throes of a bitter property wrangle in the coming weeks, and be put up for sale.

It is expected to fetch Rs 90–100 crore. Mastan’s three daughters, who were embroiled in a legal battle with his trusted aide and close friend Nasiruddin Abdul Karim’s three children — whom the don considered as his own — have decided to settle the matter out of court.

The war for the lion’s share in the don’s wealth started right after his death in 1994 and Karim’s a year later. 

According to Mastan’s will, Karim’s sons Shakeel and Shamir and daughter Rehana were to be given 30 per cent of the share in the bungalow, with the rest going to Mastan’s daughters Qamrunissa Lokhandwala, Mehrunissa Saif and Shamshad Supariwalla. 

Apart from Baitul Suroor, properties including land, shops and houses across the country also went to the daughters, who were supposed to divide it equally among themselves.

The families were close at the time and honoured the decision. But things began to fall apart after Karim passed away. 

Both the sides started eying bigger property shares. Trouble started after Karim’s sons Shakeel and Shamir took over the administration of Mastan’s properties after his daughters got married.

They used to visit their father’s bungalow during summers. But it was only in 2005 they realised something was amiss: the bungalow they had entrusted to the Karim brothers for redevelopment was slipping from their hands. 

The same year, Shamir left with his family for Australia. 

And Shakeel, on the old promise that he’d redevelop the bungalow, allegedly acquired the power of attorney (POA) after giving Rs 30 lakh to each of the sisters. 

In March the same year, a month after they had granted him the PoA, the sisters revoked it without his knowledge. 

A furious Shakeel then claimed to have bought the bungalow for the Rs 90 lakh he had paid them. 

He also resorted to roundabout ways to acquire the other properties. 

The three sisters then filed an FIR against the Karim brothers and their sister Rehana. 

Both Shakeel and Rehana were arrested while Shamir remained on the run. Though there were settlement talks, they didn’t work.

Now, the warring sides have decided to sell off the bungalow and divide the proceeds among themselves. 

Advocate Rajender Malhotra, who has been representing the Mastan family, said, “Yes, the sisters have decided to settle the dispute amicably, and they want the property to be sold off. This is an age-old battle, and we hope it comes to an end soon.”

Both the parties, along with their lawyers, met in Kanpur where they decided to end the feud and mend their relationship. 

This is favourable news for the realty market, which will soon see a premium property in its midst. 

Real estate agent Balan Deshnar said, “We are putting up ads and trying to fetch the maximum price for the property. It is a prime Peddar Road property and worth Rs 100 crore at least.”