MY CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH HAJI MASTAAN MIRZA -THE SUPER STAR AMONG SMUGGLERS

Ali Peter John

I first heard about Haji Mastaan when I lived in a slum called Latif Abdul Cyclewala Compound, named after a petty smuggler who had escaped to Pakistan. There were whispers about men in the slum working as carriers for Mastaan who was said to be the most powerful smuggler in India, especially in Bombay.There were also stories about how Mastaan punished those who betrayed him by locking them up in cells in faraway places like Madh Island and Vasai and forgetting all about them till he remembered them and pardoned them which was rare. And the men were sometimes left to die and rot. He was also said to be a very kind man who looked after the families of the men who worked for him at the risk of their lives...

I had shifted to Versova and stories about Mastaan continued to haunt me. The lights in the entire area used to go off at 7:30 in the evening every day. It was said that the lights went off on Mastaans order because that was the time when his "goods"landed at the Versova beach. The local fishermen and others were ask to keep the "goods"in their homes and they were paid very highly for their services, which make most of them very rich. My brother was also offered this honour of working for Mastaan,but it was on my opposing the move that my brother dropped the idea,which was some years later picked up by my elder brother who was in the Indian Air Force and had done the shameful job of transporting Mastaans "goods "(gold ,silver and other expensive items)Indian Air Force truck for which he was arrested and thrown out from the Air Force and had to take up jobs as a security guard...

The next time I heard about Mastaan was when he and many other leading smugglers had surrendered to the Sarvodaya leader
Jaiprakash Narayan, after which he gave his first and only sensational interview to Khushwant Singh, the controversial English writer and the editor of the "Illustrated Weekly of India" .The Interview had rocked the entire country and even Parliament and Haji Mastaan became a house hold name and even women and children in School discused him and all his activities as a smuggler,a word which had suddenly become very popular all over.

I had moved on in life and had started working for "Screen "the leading film weekly of the country and my job initially was to cover events, funerals, birthdays and launchings of films. It was one of my first assignments to cover the launch of a film called "inspector dauku aur woh "which was to be directed by R.K.Nayyar ,the husband of the popular actress Sadhana and was to be produced by N.P.Ali who was a close friend of Haji Mastaan and also a one-time smuggler like him and who was the neighbour of A.R.Antulay ,the then controversial chief minister of Maharashtra who was involved in major scandals and cases of corruption.Ali had made a beginning as a producer with a film called "Naya Din Nayi Raat" in which Sanjeev Kumar had played nine different roles.

The launch was to be held in a Village called Aptegaon, Sixty Kilometers away from Bombay.A huge crowd which had come all the way from Bombay had gathered at the village ,but there was a long wait for the chief guest to arrive and no one said who the guest would be. At around four o'clock a convoy of cars drove down to the venue and from the car in the centre of the convoy emerged a tall and dark man dressed all in white ,with the man in the other cars following him. That man was Haji Mastaan Mirza.There was a sudden change in the atmosphere. The news about Haji Mastaan reaching Aptegaon had spread all over Aptegaon and the surrounding villages and hundreds and thousands of people landed at the place where they had a chance of a life time to see Haji Mastaan in flesh and blood .Looking at the crowd and scene how the people looked at Mastaan, Sanjeev Kumar said, "hum log kya khaak star hai ? asli star aur bhagwan bhi Mastaan Sahab hi hai....Mastaan laughed at what Sanjeev said ,blessed the muhurat shot,had a cup of tea and left in his car ,followed by all the other cars that came with him and as the car carrying him vanished from sight, the crowd also vanished .That was the power of ,the popularity and the halo surrounding Haji Mastaan even after he had given up smuggling.

It was the first of my other close encounters with Mastaan bhai as he was known all over Bombay. The next time I met him was at the birthday and Eidd celebrations at the bungalow of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu .He was not alone, but was accompanied by other known smugglers like Karim Lala, N.P.Ali and others, but he was always the star among them. He seemed to get along very well with the legend and they talked like friends. Mastaan was full of affection and admiration for the king among actors and said how life would be colourless without"Yusuf Sahab ". He was all praise for the biryani served and once said, "hum log toh yaha Yusuf Sahab ko dekhne aate hai aur biryani khane aate hai ,baki kahi bhi aisi biryani kahaan miltee hai ?"They all sat till it was time for tea and left with Dilip Kumar seeing them of at the gate. It was a sight people gathered to watch and the reformed smugglers left like children who had just finished their picnic.Dillip Kumar often told me, "a smuggler is not born a smuggler. It is the circumstances that make him one. They are basically human beings who were not guided in the right way at the right time ".It was one of the many lessons I had learnt from the great actor.

The next time,I met him was at the launching of a film called "Sar zameen "which was to be made by Sanjay Khan. It was an unusual launching ceremony which started with drinks at 10:30 in the morning at the then Centaur Hotel. It was like a sea of faces known and unknown and the bar was closed within minutes as all the liquor was over. People were still struggling to find their drinks when Haji Mastaan entered the hall and every man and woman in the crowd tried to get close to him. I have often reached people who others try to meet which has been my good luck in my life. And before I could know, I was standing in front of the star of the morning, who else but the most popular one-time smuggler, Mastaan bhai. He had formed his own political party called the "Dalit Minority Mukti Morcha ".He presented me with his visiting card which had his name engraved in English and done up in green and gold colours. He gave me a gist of what plans he had for his party and said his main goal was to serve the weaker sections of society. He invited me to his office in Mahim. I went to his office and was surprised to see the huge crowd. His men were distributing food packets to the people. I could meet him only after two hours and he asked me to join his Party. I asked him for some time, but he wanted me to join him immediately which I couldn't do because of my job in "Indian Express ".

We met again when he talked about how he had helped several film makers with money and they had not made good films. He was very happy when he was told that Amitabh Bachchan was playing a role inspired by his story in a film called "Deewaar".He was strangely worried about how the story of the film would be told in the film and said "meri kahaani aur bhi logo ne kehne ki koshish ki hai, lekin koi kamyab nahi huwa hai.Yash Chopra achha director hai aur Amitabh Bachchan bahot oomdaa actor hai, Yusuf Sahab ke baad. Ho sakta hai ye film achhi ho ".He was however not happy with the film,but he was all praise for Amitabhs performance in the film.

There was another attempt to make a film based on his life. It was a film called "Mastaan "and was to be made by Mukri, the veteran comedian who was a very close friend of Dilip Kumar and was a native of the same place Mastaan belonged to.Mastaan offered Mukri all the support and the film was launched in the presence of a very large crowd in the place where Mastaan had started his "raj"as a smuggler. however the film could not be made for reasons that are still a mistry. There were other attempts made to make films about him but none of them were made. It was only some years ago that he was "seen "in films made about the underworld in Bombay in the sixties and seventies.

There are stories told about his having an affair with an actress called Sona who was supposed to be a look alike of Madhubala, but I don't no much about affairs and so will not try to let people know what I don't know. I only know that Mastaan had presented a bungalow to an actress.

The most interesting story I have heard about Mastaan is how he used to be taken to a court in Bandra and how he used to live the police van in which he was brought and went for lunch to the homes of his friends and came back in time for the hearing of his case.....

Haji Mastaan died a very quiet death after a heart attack and there were thousands of poor people of all castes at his funeral.

Was Haji Mastaan a hero or a villain? The answer depends on who had what kind of an experience with the man with a heart.