Romancing Orgainsed Crime

Like Nath,there are many authors whose recent works have drawn inspiration from the underworld. Books like The Taj Conspiracy by Manpreet Sodhi Someshwar,Dongri to Dubai by journalist and author S Hussain Zaidi and The Newsroom Mafia by Oswald Pereira,deal with tales woven around terrorist plots and the organised crime cartels in Mumbai.

While Zaidi’s book is not a fictional piece,it details the rise of Dawood Ibrahim from his humble beginnings in Mumbai to becoming one of the most-wanted terrorists on India’s as well as the Interpol’s list. Others,however have made use of real life incidents,experiences and news pieces in the plots for their novel.

“The film industry has always been fascinated by the tale of the gangster. We have seen that in our movies,both in the past and more recently too,” says Nath,adding,“While I was working on The Karachi Deception,I also felt that as a writer there were so many aspects that could be explored. I did a lot of research on the Mumbai mafia. Even though there are references to a certain gangster,the character of Dilawar was fictitious.”

Oswald Pereira’s book The Newsroom Mafia has elements from his own days as a crime reporter in the ’80s. He agrees that writers do deny that such stories are based on real life people for security reasons. The plot has details of journalists being on the payroll of the mob bosses,corrupt cops and politicians,and the reasons behind which the profession thrived. The dividing line is merging fact with fiction. “That is where it gets tricky. It’s writing about people,events and incidents,without naming anyone explicitly but having marked subtle references to them. In my book’s case,I was told by people that they could name the people on whom the story was based,down to the journalist who is the narrator of the book,” he explains.

There have been few examples in the past as well. Mukul Deva’s book,Lashkar (2008) details a terrorist attack on Delhi and the subsequent retaliation by the the Indian Defence Services Force 22. Deva’s book subsequently spawned three sequels — Salim Must Die (2009),Blowback (2010) and Tanzeem (2011).

The trend has not only brought forth a lot of fiction writers in the forefront but has also garnered poularity amongst the readers,says Ahmed Faiyaz,founder of Grey Oak publications who published The Taj Conspiracy. “Such novels have started finding more prominence only in the recent years. With the kind of fast-paced plots coming in,the writing is on par with that of the writers from the West,” he adds.