Bollywood has always been fascinated with the underworld. We’ve watched several movies on the mafia. Gangsters and molls have often been immortalized in print and on celluloid. Remember the movie Black Friday directed by Anurag Kashyap? The release was delayed and even when it did see the light of the theatres, it wasn’t controversy free. The movie was based on a book of the same title penned by S. Hussain Zaidi. Zaidi is out with another novel and this time, he covers the mafia queens of Mumbai. Although a journalist and a non-fiction writer, most would agree Zaidi’s bestselling quality is his story-telling ability. It is fast and gripping, almost cinematic in nature, as Vishal Bhardwaj pointed out. It is also apt that Vishal has written the foreward to the novel. Most of his films have been adaptations of literary works and he has always found pleasure in portraying the darkness of a woman’s character.
At the book launch, Vishal confessed that he loved all of the stories and had a difficult time choosing the one he wanted to adapt. Rani Mukerji made an appearance too. Vishal conferred on her the title ‘queen of the evening’ and quite a storm stirred up. The press photographers were trigger happy and hounded the podium to snap Rani’s pictures. They were covering everyone’s view and wouldn’t let anyone speak. The organisers were irritated when this went on for a while. A word fight led to a photographer being warned and almost asked to be escorted out by the security. Quite thematic for a book launch of Mafia Queens of Mumbai. No one was hurt. But you should grab a copy before they run out!
