Bollywood: An Insight into the Underworld of

Bombay
Siddhi Chauhan

Ms.Safina Rakhangi

(Presented at the Annual History Conference of Jai Hind College, 2019)

Abstract

The Indian cinema has undergone various changes over a period of time to become the largest film
making industry in the world. From biographies and thrillers to romantic and horror, all genres of
movies have made their way to the box-office. Movies made on goons gain public interest especially
the ones made on famous underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim, Chota Shakeel, Arun Gawli, Chota
Rajan, Bada Rajan and more. Furthermore, it has been observed that movies are used as a means to
showcase the actual events through the eyes of one individual or to maintain their reputation in the
society. Various films have been made in an attempt to give the audience an insight into the
underworld of Bombay some of which include, Once upon a time in Bombay, shootout at Wadala,
shootout at lokhandwala, Satya 2, D-Day and more. This research paper focuses on two underworld
dons of Bombay who were well known for their rivalry with each other, Haseena Parkar and Arun
Gawli. The movies Haseena Parkar and Daddy both released in 2017 remarking not only their conflict
in the state of Maharashtra but also on box-office. Newspapers, articles, books and movie reviews
have been used to critically analyze the authenticity of the movies as well as the extent to which the
screenwriter aimed at instilling emotion of sympathy among the audience. The research paper also
studies the impact the two historically famous individuals had on each other’s lives and how it
affected the fate of Bombay.

Keywords: Bollywood, Underworld, Bombay, Haseena Parkar, Arun Gawli, Dawood Ibrahim.

Haseena Parkar
Haseena Parkar was conceived in Ratnagiri locale of Maharashtra to a Marathi Muslim family. Her
dad Ibrahim Kaskar was a head constable in the Mumbai Police Department and her mom Amina Bi,
was a housewife. Her sibling Dawood Ibrahim increased to distinction by running the wrongdoing
syndicate D-Company in Mumbai during the 80s. Her sibling was the explanation their family got the
spotlight. Third of 12 kin, Dawood assumed control over the reins of Mumbai and changed the city
until the end of time. Haseena was the seventh kin. She followed Dawood's strides of wrongdoing
and illicit exchanges. She had 88 cases to her name showed up in court just once. It was the
homicide of Ismail Parkar by Dawood's adversary Arun Gawli group that Soon, Haseena moved in
Golden Hall Apartments in Nagpada, which turned into her criminal central command.

While Nagpada inhabitants called her 'Aapa' or elder sister, it is said that Haseena ran her
wrongdoing syndicate from Golden Hall and supposedly had resources worth Rs 5,000 crore.

On July 6, 2014, she kicked the bucket in the wake of enduring a coronary failure, at 55 years old.

Critical Analysis of the movie

The movie Haseena Parkar begins with the strategized entry of Haseena Parkar during her first and
the only court visit wherein 7 burkha clad women walked together in order to create confusion
among the media people. the entire movie is a narrative by the character in a court setting throwing
appropriate light at the significant and important event in Appa’s life. It showed her love and bond
with her brother, Dawood Ibrahim as well as the kind nature of her husband, Ismail Parkar. The gang
wars were at its peak during the 1970’s and during the same time, Dawood Ibrahim fled to Dubai.
Haseena had to face the consequences of the bitter relations that her brother had with his rivalries.
Her husband’s death and regular police investigations following the bomb blasts paved a way for her
into the underworld. She used her brother’s name in order to extort money and to make things work
the way she wanted. She claimed that she wasn’t in contact with her brother but the end gives clear
indication that she was. The director although tried her best in giving the information as it was
according to the successors of Haseena Parkar, it failed to look into the details of the surroundings.
There were moments when the audience could understand that the scene was being shot in sets.
The background of Nagpada, Dubai and Dongri all seemed to have minute differences.

The protagonist, Shraddha Kapoor couldn’t do justice to the role of Haseena Parkar for she lacked
the heaviness and boldness as well as voice that could make the other person experience terror. The
tan used over the actresses didn’t provide a life like character. The names of the characters weren’t
changed. The dressing as well as makeup were resembling the real people. The gang wars occupied a
lesser duration in the movie, where the major focus was on the emotional as well as familial issues
of the protagonist which made her choose the path. The movie further reveals that the death of her
son was not just an accident but murder by one of the rival gang members. However, it is said that
the director had put in 2 years of research on the background of the movie by not only interacting
with Haseena Parkar but has also heard the story from the police’s point of view in order to maintain
the authenticity of the film.

Arun Gawli
Arun Gawli was an Indian politician, black market don and previous gangster. Gawli and his sibling
Kishor (Pappa) entered the Mumbai black market during the 1970s when they joined the "Byculla
Organization", a group of gangsters drove by Rama Naik and Babu Reshim, working in the focal
Mumbai zones of Byculla, Parel and Saat Rasta. In 1988, after Rama Naik was murdered in a police
experience, Gawli assumed control over the group and started working it from his home, Dagdi
Chawl. Under his influence, the pack controlled most crimes in the focal Mumbai zones. All through
the late eighties and nineties, Gawli's gang was associated with a force battle with Dawood Ibrahim's
D-Organization group. Gawli is likewise the organizer of the Akhil Bhartiya Sena political group
situated in Maharashtra. Currently, Arun Gawli is serving life sentence for murdering a former MLA.

Critical analysis of the movie

The movie manages to grab the attention of audience with its first scene wherein the death of an
MLA has been shown. However, the pace of the movie is slow and doesn’t cater to the typical
Bollywood action as such. The storyline of the movie tries to cover all important incidents that
occurred in Gawli’s life with equal attention to the details including the characters. Each individual
character does justice to their role as well as resembles the real person to an extent where only a
few differences between the real and reel characters can be pointed out. the songs in the movie
have been kept limited and hence it helps the audience not to get distracted from the storyline. The
dialogues and attire of every person seemed to belong to the 1970s yet the movie had some
setbacks and mistakes which could be pointed out. one of the mistakes or rather blunder made in
the movie was the use of paper ballot to vote when EVMs were already in use during that time.
While a few incidents seemed too dramatic to be real including the escape of Arun Gawli from a
naka bandi. The movie in general instils emotions of sympathy and awe for the protagonist. With a
sad yet true ending, the movie may disappoint some for the audience have a keen eye and
preference for movies with happy endings.
Interrelationship

One thing common in both the movies is an individual with the name of Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood
was the brother of Haseena Parkar while Gawli had grown up with Dawood in the Byculla Company,
a criminal gang led by Rama Naik and Babu Reshim. They had no enmity until the death of Rama
Naik. Although Arun Gawli led the Byculla Company after the death of the former leader, he swore
revenge for he was convinced the killer was Dawood. There were various shootouts and gang related
rivalry. In early 1992, Gawli gang members killed Ibrahim Parkar, Dawood’s brother-in-law and
Haseena’s husband. He had broken the code of underworld wherein the individual rivalry wasn’t
supposed to include family killings. Dawood was in Dubai during the same time and was infuriated
with Gawli’s actions. In the early hours of 12th September 1992, when the shooters of Ibrahim Parkar
were in JJ hospital, Dawood’s henchmen, Subhash Thakur and Sunil Sawant stormed in with AK47s
and killed them.

Both the movies have given considerable time to the events mentioned above. While Haseena can
be seen watching the news on her TV screen, in Daddy, newspaper pictures have been shown in
order to give the audience an idea on the background of the following events. The names of the
character haven’t been changed in Haseena Parkar while name of Dawood Ibrahim has been
replaced with Maqsood, the character played by Farhan Akhtar. Both the movies show the struggles
of the two individuals which dragged them into the underworld. Both of them had certain difficulties
and had lost people in their life due to unjust behaviour of the rival parties. The movies tried to
showcase the emotional side as well as the point of view of Haseena Parkar as well as Arun Gawli on
the events which made them critical in the eyes of some. The movies give a background to shooting
at JJ hospital however, the sequence can only be observed by the audience if both the movies have
been seen, otherwise it takes a more biased approach and can lead to formation of opinion of the
individual accordingly. The portrayal of Dawood Ibrahim in both the movies helps one understand
how his behaviour was different among his family members and his gang members.

Methodology

This is a qualitative and descriptive research. Qualitative research is a type of social science research
that collects and works with non-numerical data and that seeks to interpret meaning from these
data that help us understand social life through the study of targeted populations or places. The
descriptive research primarily focuses on describing the nature of a demographic segment, without
focusing on “why” a certain phenomenon occurs. The research uses secondary data, that is the data
that was collected by someone else for another primary purpose.

Objectives

 To critically analyze the authenticity of the movies.

 To study the portrayal of Haseena Parkar and Arun Gawli in both the movies.
 To study the effects of rivalry of the two individuals on the city of Mumbai.

Limitations

 This research paper focuses on only 2 movies.

 The research is limited to movies made on the underworld of Bombay
 The research only uses secondary data
Analysis and Conclusion

Both the movies, Haseena Parkar as well as Daddy catered to a large audience and provided an
insight into the emotional dilemma of both the individuals, their struggles and motives and how the
profession that they chose had an impact on their own as well as their family’s lives. The following
observations can be made after a thorough review of the movies:

Similarities between both the individuals as portrayed in the movies

 Both Haseena Parkar and Arun Gawli weren’t born gangsters but were pushed into this
profession due to the difficulties of life and to make ends meet.
 Both lost a close member of their family after becoming a popular name in the underworld.
While it was the son of Haseena Parkar who mysteriously died in a car accident or Arun
Gawli’s brother who was shot dead in an attempt to kill Gawli.
 Both were influenced to be a gang member and later emerge as a leader following the
footsteps of someone close to them. The elder and most loving brother of Haseena, Dawood
Ibrahim unintentionally led to her becoming ‘Aapa’ while the influence of peers and
childhood friends, Babu and Rama paved a way for Arun’s underworld journey.
 Both had faced public dejection and unacceptance becoming one of the reasons for them to
continue being a part of the gang.
 Both Arun Gawli as well as Haseena Parkar had an option to flee from the country and save
themselves from the regular police enquiries and court cases but both didn’t believe in such
an idea. The dialogue in Haseena Parkar wherein she is seen talking to her brother, Dawood
and tells him not to worry about her as “mera khuda meri hifazat karega” while in the movie
Daddy, Arun can be seen addressing the large mass saying “ Me bhagoda nahi.”
 Both the movies have certain parts wherein the editor has very neatly placed the actual
news clipping or pictures of newspapers of those times. While in Haseena Parkar it can be
seen in the starting 15 minutes of the film, the real people and court proceedings have been
shown in Daddy at the very end giving the audience a chance to compare as well as a sign of
authenticity of the content of the film.
 Both the movies were narrated by one or many individuals. While in Haseena Parkar, she
can the entire story of Haseena is revelaed by a dialogue in a court setting, in Daddy, the
police inspector helps unveiling the story in order to conspire against Arun.

Differences between both the individuals as portrayed in the movies

 While in the movie Haseena Parkar, the name of the individuals hasn’t been much altered,
in Daddy one can observe the character of Maqsood played by Farhan Akhtar is actually of
the real-life don and the 3rd most wanted gangster in the world, Dawood Ibrahim.
 The use of actors and their appearance resembles the real life figures in the movie Arun
Gawli while one can observe the humble attempt at doing the same in the movie Haseena
Parkar, but it fails in the choice of actors as the characters in the film seem to be more fit
and not so life like.
 The pace of both the movies were pole apart and thus had different impact on people. The
pace of story in Haseena Parkar seemed to be perfect as the part of her life wherein she
gets married and has kids have been shown in one song itself, eliminating the unwanted
romantic Drama in the otherwise serious movie. While equal attention has been given to
 Romance, Emotional triggers as well as in providing information in the movie Daddy which
makes the movie slow and is left unappreciated by the audience.

References
(n.d.).

 Haseena Parkar is an emotional story:Shraddha Kapoor. (2017, september 20). Retrieved

from united news of india: www.uniindia.com/-haseena-parker-is-an-emotional-story-
shraddha-kapoor/entertainment/news/995272.html

 imDb. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6512784/reviews

 zaidi, H. (2017). the wiley old woman of Dongri. tranquebar.

 Zaidi, S. H. (2002). Black Friday: The True Story of Bombay Bomb Blasts.