Indian mafia
Encyclopedia
The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found in some of India
's major cities. The "Indian Mafia" also refer to powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.
elements, or syndicates, perhaps had their origins in the gambling
and bootleg liquor dens set up by a pathan Ayub Khan Pathan alias Ayub lala. He was the founder president of Pakhtun Jirga e Hind, an association of around 13000 afghani nationals settled in Mumbai. Although Ayub Lala was labelled a mafia don, he had not even slapped a single person during his life time, to show off his muscle power. He controlled the gambling clubs mostly ownded by marwaris, muslim and gujrati operators and drug cartel including spurious liquor dens in Mumbai. Ayub Lala also owned a few KawaKhanas (a drink made from opium served with black tea) and Chandolkhanas (somewhat like hokkah parlours). He left Mumbai after the murder of his own step son Kashmiri Lala handing over the reigns of all his activities to Karim lala who was earlier a vendor selling liquor at a den at Dongri in south mumbai. in the 1940s. There was also a don named Rama Naik who hailed from Byculla a close associate of Bada Rajan and mentor of Arun Gavli. He reigned from 70 to 1987 when he was encountered on the behest of Dawood.Bada Rajan
1970–83. Currently the biggest such underworld leader is Dawood Ibrahim
.
In the illegal opium trade, the earliest dated mafia family was the Thane-based (Mumbai) Thanevale gang that was responsible for over 80% of the opium and heroin trafficking in the 1860s according to an article by Harkisondas Thanawala (1965).
and Golden Crescent
to Europe
. India is also the world's largest legal grower of opium
, and experts estimate that 5–10% of the legal opium is converted into illegal heroin and 8–10% is consumed in high quantities as concentrated liquid. The pharmaceutical industry is also responsible for a lot of illegal production of mandrax, much of which is smuggled into South Africa
. Diamond smuggling via South Africa is also a major criminal activity, and diamonds are also sometimes used to disguise shipments of heroin. Finally, a lot of money laundering
takes place in the country, mostly through the use of the traditional hawala
system, although India has criminalised money laundering as of 2003.
’s underworld dates back to the late 1960s, when Kodigehalli Mune Gowda became the first underworld don.In the beginning he controlled all of Bangalore
, and his basic revenue source was hafta(protection money) from brothels and arrack shops. In the ‘70s, Kotwal Ramachandra and Jayaraj entered the field. Wine shops, massage parlours, game parlours were added to the list. They had political affiliations.The scene changed in the 1980s and ‘90s, when young Turks entered the field like Muthappa Rai
, Agni Shridhar
in 1990 to 1995 Boot House Kumar or Oil Kumar, Bekkina Kannu Rajendra, Srirampura Kitty, Jedarahalli Krishnappa, Pushpa, Kala Pathar and Ele Naga emerged.
At the same time, the underworld became active, with Abu Shair, Koli Fayaz, Tanvir, Ishtiyak, Sajjad, Nazir, hibbath, Tarakari Khaleel and Chappal Hamid. Bangalore
was virtually a battleground, as these operators stretched their businesses to all possible revenue earning sectors.
Bangalore's underworld scenario is very well depicted in blockbuster kannada movie Om
which has been remade in Telugu
as Omkaaram'. Bollywood's 1998 blockbuster Satya shares many similarities with Om, including the fact that both deal with criminal underworlds and each protagonist's name is the same: Satya. The movie is considered controversial because of its violence and the portrayal of a lot of Bangalore underworld's incidents. Many real underworld people acted in the movie, of which some convicts had to be bailed out just to act in this movie. Some of the infamous rowdies who acted in the film are Jedarahalli Krishnappa, Bekkina Kannu (Cat Eye) Raajendra, Korangu, and Tanveer.
s revolving around the Indian mafia, particularly the Mumbai
underworld, have been common in Indian cinema
since the 1950s, evolving into a distinct genre known as Mumbai noir in the late 1990s. The genre has its origins in the 1950s, with the Raj Kapoor
films Awaara
(1951) and Shree 420 (1955) being some of the earliest films involving the Mumbai underworld. In the 1960s, Shakti Samanta
's China Town (1962), starring Shammi Kapoor
and Helen, dealt with the criminal underworld that existed in Chinatown, Kolkata
, at the time. It was the earliest film to introduce the plot element of a look-alike working as an undercover agent impersonating a gangster, an idea that was used again Don
(1978) and many later films inspired by it.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, many of the most well-known classic Bollywood
movies were based around themes of fighting criminals and corruption at a time when crime was rising and authorities were powerless. Classic Amitabh Bachchan
films depicted the underworld and the protagonists attempting to overcome it, including Prakash Mehra
's Zanjeer
(1972), Yash Chopra
's Deewar (1975), Manmohan Desai
's Amar Akbar Anthony
(1977), Chandra Barot's Don
(1978) and Vijay Anand's Ram Balram
(1980). In particular, Deewar, which Danny Boyle
described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema
”, was a crime film
pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan
", portrayed by Bachchan. Most Bollywood crime movies at the time were fairly unrealistic with the masala
style of action and plots. In Parallel Cinema
on the other hand, the Calcutta trilogies
of Bengali film
directors Mrinal Sen
and Satyajit Ray
, particularly the 1976 film Jana Aranya
(The Middleman), dealt with the Calcutta
underworld in a more realistic manner.
In the late 1980s, Parallel Cinema filmmakers began producing more realistic Bombay underworld films, with an early example being Mani Ratnam
's Tamil film, Nayagan
(1987), based on the life of the Bombay don
, Varadarajan Mudaliar
, portrayed by Kamal Haasan
. Nayagan was included in Time Magazine
's "All-Time 100 Best Films" list, issued in 2005. I The Bombay underworld was also depicted in Mira Nair
's Academy Award
nominated Hindi film Salaam Bombay!
(1988). The underworld was also depicted in several other National Film Award
winning films, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra
's Parinda
(1989) starring Anil Kapoor
, Mukul S. Anand
's Agneepath
(1990) starring Bachchan, and Sudhir Mishra
's Dharavi
(1991) also starring Om Puri
.
In the late 1990s, Ram Gopal Varma
's Satya
(1998) marked the introduction of a new genre of film making, Mumbai noir, of which he is the acknowledged master. The critical and commercial success of Satya led to an increased emphasis on realism in later Mumbai underworld films. Varma's next Mumbai noir film was Company
(2002), based on the D-Company
, a real-life criminal organization. Satya and Company both gave "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld", and displayed realistic "brutality and urban violence." Satya won six Filmfare Awards
, including the Critics Award for Best Film
, while Company won seven Filmfare Awards. A prequel to Company was released in 2005, entitled D
(2005), produced by Varma and directed by Vishram Sawant. Varma's three films Satya, Company and D are together considered an "Indian Gangster Trilogy". Varma also directed an Indian adaptation of The Godfather novel
in a Mumbai underworld setting, called Sarkar
(2005), and has more recently filmed an original sequel called Sarkar Raj (2008). Another film Sarfarosh
, starring Aamir Khan
deals with cross-border arms smuggling, and the criminal elements within India that are involved with it, including the Mumbai mafia.
Mahesh Manjrekar
's Vaastav: The Reality
(1999) is another film that depicts the Indian mafia. Anurag Kashyap
's Black Friday (2004) is based on S. Hussein Zaidi's book of the same name about the 1993 Bombay bombings, which involved the underworld organization, the D-Company
. Vishal Bharadwaj's Maqbool
(2004) and Omkara
(2006) are modern-day Indian mafia interpretations of the William Shakespeare
plays Macbeth
and Othello
, respectively. Farhan Akhtar
's Don - The Chase Begins Again
(2006) is a remake of Barot's original 1978 Don with Shahrukh Khan
taking Bachchan's place in the title role. Apoorva Lakhia
's Shootout at Lokhandwala
(2007) is based on a real-life 1991 incident involving Commissioner Aftab Ahmed Khan
and the Lokhandwala Complex
. Waaris
(2008) is an Indian television series on Zee TV
with the Indian mafia as its background. The Mumbai underworld has also been depicted in Madhur Bhandarkar
's Traffic Signal
(2007) and Rajeev Khandelwal
's Aamir (2008).
Danny Boyle
's Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire
(2008), based on Vikas Swarup
's Boeke Prize
winning novel Q & A (2005), has also portrayed the Indian mafia, under the influence of earlier Mumbai noir films. Boyle has cited previous Bollywood portrayals of the Mumbai underworld in Deewar, Satya, Company and Black Friday as direct influences on the film. Indian mafia was widely portrayed in 2009 Bollywood's 2009 critically acclaimed film Kaminey
.
Gregory David Roberts
's Shantaram novel
, also features the Indian mafia in its storyline.
film industry, providing films with funding and using them as fronts for other activities. It is rumoured that Daud Ibrahim controls the film industry, and actors of other religious faiths are threatened to give way for his supporters. Although in recent times police investigations have forced mobsters to make their activities more subtle, for most of Bollywood's existence stars openly displayed their mafia connections, attending parties with mafia dons and using their help to gain new roles.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's major cities. The "Indian Mafia" also refer to powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.
Mumbai underworld
The first of mafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
elements, or syndicates, perhaps had their origins in the gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and bootleg liquor dens set up by a pathan Ayub Khan Pathan alias Ayub lala. He was the founder president of Pakhtun Jirga e Hind, an association of around 13000 afghani nationals settled in Mumbai. Although Ayub Lala was labelled a mafia don, he had not even slapped a single person during his life time, to show off his muscle power. He controlled the gambling clubs mostly ownded by marwaris, muslim and gujrati operators and drug cartel including spurious liquor dens in Mumbai. Ayub Lala also owned a few KawaKhanas (a drink made from opium served with black tea) and Chandolkhanas (somewhat like hokkah parlours). He left Mumbai after the murder of his own step son Kashmiri Lala handing over the reigns of all his activities to Karim lala who was earlier a vendor selling liquor at a den at Dongri in south mumbai. in the 1940s. There was also a don named Rama Naik who hailed from Byculla a close associate of Bada Rajan and mentor of Arun Gavli. He reigned from 70 to 1987 when he was encountered on the behest of Dawood.Bada Rajan
Bada Rajan
Rajan Mahadeo Nair , popularly known in the Mumbai underworld by his moniker Bada Rajan was an Indian mobster and underworld don from Mumbai, who operated from his base in the Tilak Nagar neighborhood of Chembur.-Early years:...
1970–83. Currently the biggest such underworld leader is Dawood Ibrahim
Dawood Ibrahim
Dawood Ibrahim , also known as Dawood Ebrahim, and Sheikh Dawood Hassan, is the head of the organized crime syndicate [[D-Company]] in Mumbai. He is currently on the wanted list of Interpol for organised crime and counterfeiting. He was No. 4 on the Forbes' World's Top 10 most dreaded criminals...
.
In the illegal opium trade, the earliest dated mafia family was the Thane-based (Mumbai) Thanevale gang that was responsible for over 80% of the opium and heroin trafficking in the 1860s according to an article by Harkisondas Thanawala (1965).
Activities
India is a major transit point for heroin coming in from the Golden TriangleGolden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
The Golden Triangle is one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent and Pakistan, it has been one of the most...
and Golden Crescent
Golden Crescent
The Golden Crescent is the name given to one of Asia's two principal areas of illicit opium production, located at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia...
to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. India is also the world's largest legal grower of opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, and experts estimate that 5–10% of the legal opium is converted into illegal heroin and 8–10% is consumed in high quantities as concentrated liquid. The pharmaceutical industry is also responsible for a lot of illegal production of mandrax, much of which is smuggled into South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Diamond smuggling via South Africa is also a major criminal activity, and diamonds are also sometimes used to disguise shipments of heroin. Finally, a lot of money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
takes place in the country, mostly through the use of the traditional hawala
Hawala
Hawala is an informal value transfer system based on the performance and honor of a huge network of money brokers, which are primarily located in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and South Asia...
system, although India has criminalised money laundering as of 2003.
Bangalore underworld
BangaloreBangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
’s underworld dates back to the late 1960s, when Kodigehalli Mune Gowda became the first underworld don.In the beginning he controlled all of Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, and his basic revenue source was hafta(protection money) from brothels and arrack shops. In the ‘70s, Kotwal Ramachandra and Jayaraj entered the field. Wine shops, massage parlours, game parlours were added to the list. They had political affiliations.The scene changed in the 1980s and ‘90s, when young Turks entered the field like Muthappa Rai
Muthappa Rai
Muthappa Rai is a former underworld don and an Indian entrepreneur. He says he 'renounced' violence and is based near Bangalore.-References:- External links :**...
, Agni Shridhar
Agni Shridhar
Agni Shridhar is an Kannada former gangster, writer, critic and artist. He founded Karunada Sene. Later he founded the weekly Kannada newspaper and turned a professional writer, Agni...
in 1990 to 1995 Boot House Kumar or Oil Kumar, Bekkina Kannu Rajendra, Srirampura Kitty, Jedarahalli Krishnappa, Pushpa, Kala Pathar and Ele Naga emerged.
At the same time, the underworld became active, with Abu Shair, Koli Fayaz, Tanvir, Ishtiyak, Sajjad, Nazir, hibbath, Tarakari Khaleel and Chappal Hamid. Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
was virtually a battleground, as these operators stretched their businesses to all possible revenue earning sectors.
Bangalore's underworld scenario is very well depicted in blockbuster kannada movie Om
Om (Kannada film)
Om is an Indian Kannada film directed by Upendra , starring Shivarajkumar , and notable for its exposure of Bangalore's criminal underworld. The film was a commercial and critical success and aided the careers of the actors Prema and Shivarajkumar...
which has been remade in Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
as Omkaaram'. Bollywood's 1998 blockbuster Satya shares many similarities with Om, including the fact that both deal with criminal underworlds and each protagonist's name is the same: Satya. The movie is considered controversial because of its violence and the portrayal of a lot of Bangalore underworld's incidents. Many real underworld people acted in the movie, of which some convicts had to be bailed out just to act in this movie. Some of the infamous rowdies who acted in the film are Jedarahalli Krishnappa, Bekkina Kannu (Cat Eye) Raajendra, Korangu, and Tanveer.
Indian mafia in popular culture
Crime filmCrime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
s revolving around the Indian mafia, particularly the Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
underworld, have been common in Indian cinema
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
since the 1950s, evolving into a distinct genre known as Mumbai noir in the late 1990s. The genre has its origins in the 1950s, with the Raj Kapoor
Raj Kapoor
Known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor Rāj Kapūr, 14 December 1924 – 2 June 1988), also known as The Show-Man, was an Indian film actor, producer and director of Hindi cinema. He was the winner of nine Filmfare Awards, while his films Awaara and Boot Polish were nominated for the Palme d'Or at the...
films Awaara
Awaara
Awaara is a 1951 Hindi film directed and produced by Raj Kapoor who also plays the leading role. His real-life father Prithviraj Kapoor stars as his on-screen father Judge Raghunath. Kapoor's youngest real-life brother Shashi Kapoor plays the younger version of his character...
(1951) and Shree 420 (1955) being some of the earliest films involving the Mumbai underworld. In the 1960s, Shakti Samanta
Shakti Samanta
Shakti Samanta was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films like Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Kati Patang and Amar Prem.He received Filmfare Awards for Best Film for Aradhana, Anuraag and Amanush,...
's China Town (1962), starring Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor was an Indian film actor and director. He was a prominent lead actor in Hindi cinema from the late 1950s until the early 1970s....
and Helen, dealt with the criminal underworld that existed in Chinatown, Kolkata
Chinatown, Kolkata
Chinatown in the eastern part of the city of Kolkata is the only Chinatown in India. The locality was once home to 20,000 ethnic Chinese, now the population has dropped to 2,000 or so. The traditional occupation of the Chinese community here had been working in the nearby tanning industry and the...
, at the time. It was the earliest film to introduce the plot element of a look-alike working as an undercover agent impersonating a gangster, an idea that was used again Don
Don (1978 film)
Don is a 1978 Indian action film, produced by Nariman Irani and directed by Chandra Barot, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics by Anjaan. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Helen and Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu and Pinchoo Kapoor. It was the third-highest grossing...
(1978) and many later films inspired by it.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, many of the most well-known classic Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
movies were based around themes of fighting criminals and corruption at a time when crime was rising and authorities were powerless. Classic Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
films depicted the underworld and the protagonists attempting to overcome it, including Prakash Mehra
Prakash Mehra
-Career:Born on 13 July 1939 at Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India, Mehra started in the late 1950s as a production controller. In 1968, he directed Shashi Kapoor who played a double role in Haseena Maan Jayegi. This was followed by the 1971 hit Mela starring the Khan brothers together. In 1973, he...
's Zanjeer
Zanjeer
Zanjeer , is a 1973 Hindi film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra; starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit and Bindu. The movie changed the trend from romantic films to action films and pioneered Amitabh's new image of a brooding but explosive person who fights back when cornered...
(1972), Yash Chopra
Yash Chopra
Yash Raj Chopra is an Indian filmmaker, film director, screenwriter, and a highly successful Bollywood producer. Waqt, Deewar, Kabhi Kabhie, Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni, Darr, Dil To Pagal Hai, and Veer-Zaara are some of his highly popular movies...
's Deewar (1975), Manmohan Desai
Manmohan Desai
Manmohan Desai was a producer and director of Indian movies.- Background :His father, Kikubhai Desai, was an Indian film producer and owner of Paramount Studios from 1931 to 1941. His productions, mainly stunt films, included Circus Queen, Golden Gang, and Sheikh Challi...
's Amar Akbar Anthony
Amar Akbar Anthony
Amar Akbar Anthony is a 1977 Bollywood film about three brothers separated during their childhood who grew up in three homes, adopting three religions...
(1977), Chandra Barot's Don
Don (1978 film)
Don is a 1978 Indian action film, produced by Nariman Irani and directed by Chandra Barot, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics by Anjaan. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekhar, Helen and Om Shivpuri, Satyen Kappu and Pinchoo Kapoor. It was the third-highest grossing...
(1978) and Vijay Anand's Ram Balram
Ram Balram
Ram Balram is a 1980 Hindi-language film directed by Vijay Anand. It starred Dharmendra as 'Ram' and Amitabh Bachchan as 'Balram'. The other cast included Zeenat Aman and Rekha. Ajit, Amjad Khan and Prem Chopra were the villains in the film...
(1980). In particular, Deewar, which Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
”, was a crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan
Haji Mastan
Haji Mastan Mirza, popularly known as Haji Mastan or Bawa, was a Bombay gangster and smuggler in the 1960s and 1970s. Mastan became the first celebrity gangster of the city, expanding his clout in the film industry. As Mastan's influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films...
", portrayed by Bachchan. Most Bollywood crime movies at the time were fairly unrealistic with the masala
Masala (film genre)
Masala is a term given to films of Indian cinema that mix various genres in one film. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. These films tend to be musicals that include songs filmed in picturesque locations...
style of action and plots. In Parallel Cinema
Parallel Cinema
The Indian New Wave, commonly known in India as Art Cinema or Parallel Cinema as an alternative to the mainstream commercial cinema, is a specific movement in Indian cinema, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism, with a keen eye on the sociopolitical climate of the times...
on the other hand, the Calcutta trilogies
Calcutta trilogy
The Calcutta trilogy may refer to either of the following two Bengali film trilogies:Three films by Satyajit Ray:* Pratidwandi * Seemabaddha * Jana Aranya...
of Bengali film
Bengali cinema
Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...
directors Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...
and Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
, particularly the 1976 film Jana Aranya
Jana Aranya
Jana Aranya , is a 1976 Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray, based on the novel of the same name by Mani Shankar Mukherjee, and is last in the series of films by Ray, known as Calcutta trilogy, the previous two being, Pratidwandi and Seemabaddha .-Plot:The film portrays the hopelessness of...
(The Middleman), dealt with the Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
underworld in a more realistic manner.
In the late 1980s, Parallel Cinema filmmakers began producing more realistic Bombay underworld films, with an early example being Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi starring Anil Kapoor in 1983...
's Tamil film, Nayagan
Nayagan
Nayagan is a Indian film, written, directed, and co-produced by Mani Ratnam which released on 21 October 1987 coinciding with Diwali. Upon release, the film got rave reviews across India. Kamal Hassan's performance as Velu Naiker earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor. The film also...
(1987), based on the life of the Bombay don
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
, Varadarajan Mudaliar
Varadarajan Mudaliar
Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar, also known as Vardhabhai was a Tamil from Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, who rose to be a mafia don in Mumbai, India. Most active in the 1970s, he was the link in the underworld history between old time mafia men such as Haji Mastan.Varadarajan started as a porter in...
, portrayed by Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
. Nayagan was included in Time Magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's "All-Time 100 Best Films" list, issued in 2005. I The Bombay underworld was also depicted in Mira Nair
Mira Nair
Mira Nair is an Indian film director and producer based in New York. Her production company is Mirabai Films.She was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! , won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival and also earned the nomination...
's Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
nominated Hindi film Salaam Bombay!
Salaam Bombay!
Salaam Bombay! is a 1988 Hindi film directed by Mira Nair, and screenwritten by her longtime creative collaborator, Sooni Taraporevala. The film chronicles the day-to-day life of children living on the streets of Bombay...
(1988). The underworld was also depicted in several other National Film Award
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...
winning films, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...
's Parinda
Parinda
Parinda is an award-winning 1989 Indian film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Parinda is considered by many to be the turning point in reality in Hindi cinema, as the theme of the film discusses the real life of Indian underworld gangsters and the general life of residents in the city...
(1989) starring Anil Kapoor
Anil Kapoor
Anil Kapoor is an Indian actor and producer who mainly appears in Bollywood films. He won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in Yash Chopra's film Mashaal ....
, Mukul S. Anand
Mukul S. Anand
Mukul S. Anand was an Indian film director and producer. He was the nephew of veteran film scriptwriter Inder Raj Anand and cousin of actor and director Tinnu Anand.-Career:...
's Agneepath
Agneepath
Agneepath is a 1990 Bollywood film directed by Mukul Anand. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavi, and Rohini Hattangadi, with Danny Dengzongpa as the villain. It was produced by Yash Johar...
(1990) starring Bachchan, and Sudhir Mishra
Sudhir Mishra
Sudhir Mishra is an Indian film director and screenwriter most renowned for directing critically acclaimed films like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Dharavi and Chameli.-Early life and education:...
's Dharavi
Dharavi (film)
Dharavi is critically acclaimed 1991 Hindi film, directed and written by Sudhir Mishra.The film was a joint NFDC-Doordarshan production and went on to winning many awards in the following year, including the 1992 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi...
(1991) also starring Om Puri
Om Puri
Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...
.
In the late 1990s, Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer...
's Satya
Satya (film)
Satya is a 1998 Hindi crime film directed by Ram Gopal Varma with a screenplay by Anurag Kashyap and Saurabh Shukla. It stars J. D. Chakravarthy, Manoj Bajpai, Urmila Matondkar and Shefali Shah...
(1998) marked the introduction of a new genre of film making, Mumbai noir, of which he is the acknowledged master. The critical and commercial success of Satya led to an increased emphasis on realism in later Mumbai underworld films. Varma's next Mumbai noir film was Company
Company (film)
Company is a 2002 Indian film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Jaideep Sahni, starring Ajay Devgan, Mohanlal, Manisha Koirala, Vivek Oberoi,and Antara Mali. It is a fictional exposé of the Mumbai underworld, loosely based on the Indian mafia organization D-Company, known to be run by...
(2002), based on the D-Company
D-Company
D-Company is a term coined by the media for the criminal organization and terrorist group headed by wanted terrorist leader and crime boss Dawood Ibrahim....
, a real-life criminal organization. Satya and Company both gave "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld", and displayed realistic "brutality and urban violence." Satya won six Filmfare Awards
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...
, including the Critics Award for Best Film
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie
The Filmfare Awards are the oldest and most prominent film awards given for Hindi films in India. The yearly awards started in 1953. Movie awards were first given by popular vote...
, while Company won seven Filmfare Awards. A prequel to Company was released in 2005, entitled D
D (film)
D is an Indian crime drama and thriller film, directed by Vishram Sawant, written by Manish Gupta, and produced by Ram Gopal Varma and Ronnie Screwvala. It was released in India on June 3, 2005....
(2005), produced by Varma and directed by Vishram Sawant. Varma's three films Satya, Company and D are together considered an "Indian Gangster Trilogy". Varma also directed an Indian adaptation of The Godfather novel
The Godfather (novel)
The Godfather is a crime novel written by Italian American author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia...
in a Mumbai underworld setting, called Sarkar
Sarkar (film)
Sarkar is a 2005 Indian dramatic thriller film set in the world of politics and crime, directed by Ram Gopal Varma...
(2005), and has more recently filmed an original sequel called Sarkar Raj (2008). Another film Sarfarosh
Sarfarosh
Sarfarosh was a critically and commercially successful action film, released in 1999. It was directed by John Matthew Matthan and starred Aamir Khan, Sonali Bendre and Naseeruddin Shah. John started working on Sarfarosh in 1992...
, starring Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
deals with cross-border arms smuggling, and the criminal elements within India that are involved with it, including the Mumbai mafia.
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Manjrekar is an Indian director, actor, writer and producer. He is credited with directing the critically acclaimed films Vaastav: The Reality , Astitva and Viruddh... Family Comes First . He has won a National Film Award and two Star Screen Awards...
's Vaastav: The Reality
Vaastav: The Reality
Vaastav is a 1999 Hindi crime drama written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and starring Sanjay Dutt and Namrata Shirodkar. It also features Sanjay Narvekar, Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal, Reema Lagoo and Shivaji Satam in supporting roles....
(1999) is another film that depicts the Indian mafia. Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap (director)
Anurag Singh Kashyap is an Indian film director and screenwriter. As a director, he is known for Black Friday , a controversial and award-winning Hindi film about the 1993 Bombay bombings, followed by No Smoking , Dev D and Gulaal...
's Black Friday (2004) is based on S. Hussein Zaidi's book of the same name about the 1993 Bombay bombings, which involved the underworld organization, the D-Company
D-Company
D-Company is a term coined by the media for the criminal organization and terrorist group headed by wanted terrorist leader and crime boss Dawood Ibrahim....
. Vishal Bharadwaj's Maqbool
Maqbool
Maqbool , a 2004 Indian film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and starring Pankaj Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Tabu and Masumeh Makhija is an adaptation of the play Macbeth by Shakespeare....
(2004) and Omkara
Omkara (film)
Omkara is a 2006 Indian film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, co-written and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. It starred Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles, supported by Vivek Oberoi, Naseeruddin Shah, and Konkona Sen Sharma with a cameo role from Bipasha Basu...
(2006) are modern-day Indian mafia interpretations of the William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
plays Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
and Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
, respectively. Farhan Akhtar
Farhan Akhtar
Farhan Akhtar is an Indian filmmaker, script writer, actor, playback singer, lyricist, film producer in Hindi cinema and a television host.His directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi...
's Don - The Chase Begins Again
Don - The Chase Begins Again
Don: The Chase Begins Again is a 2006 Indian action film directed by Farhan Akhtar. It is a remake of the 1978 film Don. The film is produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under their home banner Excel Entertainment. The film stars Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Ishaa...
(2006) is a remake of Barot's original 1978 Don with Shahrukh Khan
Shahrukh Khan
Shahrukh Khan , often credited as Shah Rukh Khan, is an Indian film actor, as well as a film producer and television host. Often referred to as "the King of Bollywood", Khan has acted in over 70 Hindi films....
taking Bachchan's place in the title role. Apoorva Lakhia
Apoorva Lakhia
Apoorva Lakhia is an Indian film director.Before becoming a film director, Apoorva was an assistant director for Ashutosh Gowariker's period epic film Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India and as second assistant director for the film Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love...
's Shootout at Lokhandwala
Shootout at Lokhandwala
Shootout at Lokhandwala is a 2007 Hindi feature film directed by Apoorva Lakhia. It is based upon the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout, a real-life gun battle between gangsters and Mumbai Police....
(2007) is based on a real-life 1991 incident involving Commissioner Aftab Ahmed Khan
Aftab Ahmed Khan
Aftab Ahmed Khan is a former Indian Police Service officer, turned politician from Mumbai, India, noted for his encounter killings of gangsters from the Mumbai organized crime syndicates....
and the Lokhandwala Complex
Lokhandwala Complex
Lokhandwala Complex Andheri, also known as Lokhandwala, is a large residential and commercial area in Oshiwara village of Andheri, Mumbai, India. It is approximately 8 km from Andheri station. The name Lokhandwala comes from the name of the developer with the construction firm of Lokhandwala...
. Waaris
Waaris (2008 Zee TV series)
Waaris is a Hindi language television crime drama series directed by Bhushan Patel that aired on Zee TV channel from July 28, 2008 until December 4, 2008. The plot is similar in quite a few aspects to the Ram Gopal Varma films, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj...
(2008) is an Indian television series on Zee TV
Zee TV
Zee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East,...
with the Indian mafia as its background. The Mumbai underworld has also been depicted in Madhur Bhandarkar
Madhur Bhandarkar
Madhur Bhandarkar is a National Award-winning Indian film director, script writer, and producer. He is best known for his films such as Chandni Bar , Page 3 , Traffic Signal , and Fashion...
's Traffic Signal
Traffic Signal (film)
Traffic Signal is a Bollywood film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, starring Kunal Khemu, Neetu Chandra, Ranvir Shorey and Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead. Produced by Baldev and Kavita Pushkarna, and written by Sachin Yardi, the film released on February 2, 2007...
(2007) and Rajeev Khandelwal
Rajeev Khandelwal
Rajeev Khandelwal is a popular Indian film actor notable for his versatility and choice of scripts. He has played the harrowed Dr. Aamir Ali in his critically acclaimed 2008 debut film Aamir and powerfully depicted the torn ACP Arvind Mathur who battles his inner demons in Shaitan...
's Aamir (2008).
Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
's Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
(2008), based on Vikas Swarup
Vikas Swarup
Vikas Swarup is an Indian novelist and diplomat who has served in Turkey, the United States, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan, best known for his novels Q & A and Six Suspects.-Early life:...
's Boeke Prize
Exclusive Books Boeke Prize
The Exclusive Books Boeke Prize is a book prize awarded in South Africa, loosely modelled on the United Kingdom's Man Booker Prize, and sponsored by Exclusive Books...
winning novel Q & A (2005), has also portrayed the Indian mafia, under the influence of earlier Mumbai noir films. Boyle has cited previous Bollywood portrayals of the Mumbai underworld in Deewar, Satya, Company and Black Friday as direct influences on the film. Indian mafia was widely portrayed in 2009 Bollywood's 2009 critically acclaimed film Kaminey
Kaminey
Kaminey is a 2009 Bollywood caper thriller film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj featuring Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles, and Amol Gupte in his debut film appearance...
.
Gregory David Roberts
Gregory David Roberts
Gregory David Roberts is an Australian author best known for his novel Shantaram. He is a former heroin addict and convicted bank robber who escaped from Pentridge Prison in 1980, and fled to India where he lived for ten years.-Life:Roberts had become addicted to heroin after his marriage ended,...
's Shantaram novel
Shantaram (novel)
Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison flees to India where he lives for 10 years...
, also features the Indian mafia in its storyline.
Bollywood connections
The Indian mafia is notoriously heavily involved in Mumbai's BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film industry, providing films with funding and using them as fronts for other activities. It is rumoured that Daud Ibrahim controls the film industry, and actors of other religious faiths are threatened to give way for his supporters. Although in recent times police investigations have forced mobsters to make their activities more subtle, for most of Bollywood's existence stars openly displayed their mafia connections, attending parties with mafia dons and using their help to gain new roles.
See also
- Crime in IndiaCrime in IndiaCrime is present in various forms in India. Organized crime include drug trafficking, gunrunning, money laundering, extortion, murder for hire, fraud, human trafficking and poaching. Many criminal operations engage in black marketeering, political violence, religiously motivated violence,...
- Mafia RajMafia RajMafia Raj refers to an economic and political situation in India where public goods, property and funds are controlled and systematically embezzled by a criminalized nexus of government officials, elected politicians, business interests and other entities Mafia Raj (Hindi-Urdu: माफ़िया राज, مافیا...
- Mumbai Encounter SquadMumbai Encounter SquadThe Mumbai Encounter Squad was an unofficial group within the police force of Mumbai, which killed criminals in "encounters".It consisted of several high-profile officers from the Detection Unit. The squad primarily dealt with members of the Mumbai underworld and other criminal gangs and carried...
- Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) ActTerrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) ActTerrorist and Disruptive Activities Act, commonly known as TADA, was an Indian law active between 1985 and 1995 for the prevention of terrorist activities in Punjab. It came into effect on 23 May 1985. It was renewed in 1989, 1991 and 1993 before being allowed to lapse in 1995 due to increasing...
- ThuggeeThuggeeThuggee is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in South Asia and particularly in India.They are sometimes called Phansigar i.e...