Mafia Queens of Mumbai - S. Hussain Zaidi

The cover for the book

His first book, Black Friday, didn’t create ripples. It created waves. When it was later adapted into a film, the response was thunderous, to say the least. Despite the tremendous delay in the release of the film, people waited with a bated breath. In a nutshell, Black Friday delivered quite a punch.

His second book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai (ISBN 9789380283777), delivers twice the punch. For years, we have been used to hearing stories of dreaded gangsters and their exploits. Some of these ganglords have been admired, respected and idolised. So, what’s different about this book, you may ask.

The difference is that this book, unlike most others, steers away from the yang to focus on the yin. It brings to the fore, the role that women have played, at different points of time, in the murky Mumbai underworld. It features stories of Jenabai Daruwali, a woman who held sway over a man as dreaded as Haji Mastan, and brokered a peace treaty between different powerhouses in the world of crime.

While a drug peddler brings to mind an image of a gun toting man, unkempt and often stinking, this book introduces Jyoti Adiramlingam and Mahalaxmi Papamani, drug baronesses of Mumbai. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the wives of dons and it talks about the better halves of the dons have been instrumental to the growth of the syndicates.

The entire book lives up to every word written by Vishal Bhardwaj in the foreword. It’s intriguing. It’s thrilling. And you will have to try very hard to put the book down halfway through. The blend of fact and fiction is impeccable.

On the flip side, however, a couple of stories stretch a little longer than needed. Could have been a little crisper. That said, the book is definitely worth a read. Partly because of the novelty of the subject and partly because of the way it’s been written. Our advice, read it in peace over the weekend.

Rating: 8/10