Haji Mastan’s connection with Bollywood
By Isha Shinde
Starting in the early 1970s, Bollywood grew to become one of the largest film production centers in the world, making it the Hollywood of India. Producing around a thousand films per year that are watched by 3 billion people across the world, Bollywood is one of the strongest global cultural ambassadors with strong and lasting impacts on the political and social scene in India.1 As Bollywood industry was expanding the fabric of the underworld in India was changing. The merciless and cold-blooded gangsters reduced their aggressive activities and turned to illicit activities focusing on profits. This tactical transformation is where Haji Mastan played a key role in the dynamics changing from contract killings and extortion to money laundering and lucrative activities. Forming alliances with Bollywood celebrities and the business aspect of Bollywood is how he engaged in illicit activities to become one of the biggest dons in Bombay, the heart of Bollywood. Many factors of the environment of Bollywood and India contributed to Haji Mastan’s success and interconnection with Bollywood such as the vulnerability of Bollywood, political corruption and economic instability.
As a teenager, Haji Mastan worked odd jobs at a dock on the coast, which is where he was exposed to his first taste of illegal activities. He was a poor boy from the South Coast of India. In the late 1940s, India had imposed a high import duty on gold, leading to a rise of smuggling of gold from overseas.2 Black market activity increases as a consequence of legal restrictions. People turn to illegal routes as a last resort when they are unable to purchase goods that are out of their financial capabilities. However, take that legal opportunity away, and many are bound to turn to illegal sources and create their own opportunity. Unfortunately, this “opportunity” often includes black markets and illegal trade.3 Legal restrictions made with the intention of bettering or preventing bad situations tend to open the door to new or increased black market activity.
Mastan had a key role in causing the black markets to slowly start shifting their focus on lucrative activities to earn profits instead of engaging in murderous crimes. When Mastan started making enough money from smuggling gold, he moved to Bombay. There he established himself as an uncontested powerbroker of the underworld, running operations from the early 1980s to late 1990s.4 Mastan was never a ruthless person. Not once did he kill or shoot a bullet in his life and his behavior as a don was a key factor in the shifting of dynamics of the underworld in India.
Being surrounded by A-listers, Mastan found the importance of being connected to them to further his agenda. While in Bombay, he would notice all the rich and famous people pass by in their luxury cars, causing him to fall in love with Bollywood, the crux of wealth and fame. Early in his career, he had realized the significance of being seen with famous personalities from the film industry and the politics as a symbol of power. Therefore, he purposely hobnobbed among the city’s wealthy and famous and was commonly seen with Bollywood’s members at public functions. Dressing up in all white head-to-toe, he aimed to create his own iconic look to be recognized.5 Despite the negative aspects of the criminal activity Mastan took part in, society overlooked them due to the intelligent and proper appearance he displayed, offering support instead. On top of that, Mastan married an actress named Shahjehan Bagan, strategically placing him in the inner circle of Bollywood directly.
Forming alliances with other businesses or individuals is a crucial component in ensuring a crime market’s survival. Alliances are how Mastan expanded his business into the networks of Bollywood, establishing the ties between the underworld and the Bollywood. One tactic for an illegitimate market to ensure success is to invest in a legitimate industry as opposed to one that is indisputably corrupt. He did this by concentrating on him being seen as a movie distributor and financer and the finally became a major producer.6 By implementing this tactic, he managed to cover his crimes and remain hidden. To most people, crime generally tends to evoke images of activities such as drugs, trafficking, or the like.7 Crime is easier to overlook in legal industries such as Bollywood as those involved do not appear to be innately sinful. Mastan’s crime market received extra protection by hiding under the veil of Bollywood. It would take exceptional effort to uncover an underlying black market in a business established as being socially acceptable. Hence, organized crime relies on licit businesses in order to operate to such a substantial extent as these businesses provide a cover.
The film industry’s intimate relationship with the Indian underworld is considered one of the country’s worst kept secrets whose origins can be traced to a government regulation that rendered the cinema industry ineligible for legitimate forms of financing. According to a report in Firstpost authored by Abhijit Majumdar, banks were barred from financing movies till the year 2000. This forced the producers to turn to Haji Mastan for financial support. Bollywood had only become a legitimate business later on and once it did, many black markets mafia members such as Mastan started using it as a way to clean that money.8 This is how he spawned a massive gang empire that was financed by extortion, bootlegging and black marketing of movie tickets. Money laundering, the illegal process of concealing the origins of the money obtained illegally by passing it through complex sequences of bank transfers, became heavily ingrained into the structure of Bollywood. According to Majumdar, this “big chasm in financing was filled by the underworld”. Criminal activity thrives amidst economic turmoil such as this government regulation. The less stable the economic conditions within business sectors, the easier it is for organized crime to emerge. Moreover, underground illicit activity is almost always aggravated once ties with local police force, political leaders, or representatives have been established. Mastan used his newly formed and tight connections with politicians and police to create an effortless mean to engage in illicit activities such film financing and money laundering, film piracy, counterfeiting and illegal distribution.9
A cycle had been created between the Mastan’s mafia and the Bollywood producers. When the producers need money to finance their films, they come to the mafia members to provide them with the support. Similarly, when the mafia needs to ‘clean’ their money, they rely on the Bollywood producers and actors. Bollywood became the ‘washing machine’ of the underworld, where mafias would come and do business with Bollywood so as to clean their ill-gotten money. However, this exchange is not always friendly with mutual benefits. Haji Mastan and his mafia have an iron grip on Bollywood, which means that they make use of this power to blackmail and force filmmakers to do things they want. In the case, if the filmmaker refuses, they face the consequences. Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in 2011 after he refused to sell the overseas rights of his latest film, Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, to one of India’s leading criminal organizations. Likewise, in an interview with Times of India, Bollywood’s King of Hearts, Shah Rukh Khan had once stated that he was pressured to act in a movie and received death threats after the release of his film, Happy New Year.10
On the other hand, some people from the Bollywood industry start entangling themselves in illicit activities with the mafia for protection and profits. For example, Sanjay Dutt, a famous actor, possessed guns in his house that were given by the mafia members linked to Haji Mastan. These guns were then linked to the 1993 Bombay Bombings that killed 257 people and injured 1400, resulting in him getting arrested and facing prison time. Even after a famous actor in India served six years in jail for involvement in mafia attacks and dealings, he is still a popular famous actor today, “regarding [him] as a hero and a star.” The organized crime syndicates took over Bollywood after growing due to unemployment and poverty, and despite the Bombay bombings, “there is an affection for Bollywood stars and the Mumbai mob.”11 Sometimes criminal organizations are more respected by the community than an untrustworthy government, giving these criminal organizations power and stability.
Haji Mastan ended up dying from a cardiac arrest and until now Bollywood remains in shackles to the mafia. Every now and then, the public is exposed to a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes of the big red curtain of Bollywood. The shadowy element of Bollywood is what allows this connection to thrive in Bombay’s political and social conditions. Even though Bollywood appears to be a legitimate business, it is undergirded by systems that are clearly illegal and even criminal. Mastan used intimidation, power and connections to achieve a position where he was able to pursue these illicit operations while maintaining a desirable and well-known public image. This environment was strengthened by the middle class, that enjoyed and worshipped the Bollywood industry, because the people learn to either look the other way or never even imagine anything dark going on behind the scenes. This black market is extremely hard to topple because it contains a complex web of players, from dons, mafias, corrupt law enforcement and prominent celebrities.
Works Cited
1.McCarthy, Niall. “Bollywood: India’s Film Industry By The Numbers [Infographic].” Forbes Magazine, 3 Sept. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2014/09/03/bollywood-indias-film-industry-by-the-numbers-infographic/.
2.Mumbai Mirror. “The Real Haji Mastan.” Mumbai Mirror, 22 July 2010, mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/the-real-haji-mastan/articleshow/16037081.cms.
3.Kotak, Dev. “Three Underworld Dons Who Rode Bombay from the 60s to Early 80s.” DNA India, 5 May 2015, www.dnaindia.com/india/report-three-underworld-dons-who-rode-bombay-from-the-60s-to-early-80s-2083454.
4.Bangalore Mirror. “The Real Haji Mastan.” Bangalore Mirror, 23 July 2010, bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/the-real-haji-mastan/articleshow/21823190.cms.
5.PeoplePill. “About Haji Mastan: Indian Mobster (1926-): Biography, Facts, Career, Life.” PeoplePill, peoplepill.com/people/haji-mastan/.
6.Majumdar, Mayukh. “From Haji Mastan To Dawood Ibrahim: Bollywood’s Alleged Mafia Connections Bollywood’s Alleged Mafia Connections.” Man’s World India, 1 Sept. 2020, www.mansworldindia.com/entertainment/from-haji-mastan-to-dawood-ibrahim-bollywood-mafia-connections/.
7.Maheshwari, Dhairya. “Haji Mastan Mirza: Revisiting the Story of Underworld Don Often Potrayed as ‘Bombay’s Robinhood.” English, 16 Jan. 2020, www.indiatvnews.com/crime/who-was-hazi-mastan-mirza-mumbai-underworld-don-complete-story-580244.
8.Glenny, Misha. McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld. New York, N.Y: Vintage Books, 2009. Print.
