Haji Mastan

Mirza Haji Mastan
Haji Mastan
Born	Mastan Haider Mirza (1926-03-01)1 March 1926 Panaikulam, Ramanathapuram, Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu), British India
Died	25 June 1994(1994-06-25) (aged 68)[1] Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Film financier, film producer, film distributor, filmmaker, politician
Spouse(s)	Sona
Children	Akhtar, Nasir, Nadir

Mastan Haider Mirza, popularly known as Haji Mastan, Bawa /Sultan Mirza (1 March 1926 - 25 June 1994) was an Indian mobster and filmmaker. Mastan became the first celebrity gangster of the city of Bombay, expanding his clout in the film industry by giving money to directors and studios for film production. As Mastan's influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films himself.

Early life

Born in 1926 in Pannaikulam, near Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu,^[2] Haji Mastan originally known as Mastan Haider Mirza at the age of 8 migrated with his father in Mumbai. The father son duo ran a small cycle repairing shop in Crawford market which wasn’t enough to feed the family.

History

10 years later in the year 1944, Bawa joined Bombay docks as a porter and this changed his life forever. He worked in association with Karim Lala and Varadarajan Mudaliar and by 1960s he became a rich man. He even started financing his money in Bollywood and became a film producer. Amitabh Bachchan whose character in Deewar was influenced by Mastan met him personally along with Salim. Being a film producer he had good relations with many of the stars of the yesteryears such as Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dharmendra, Firoze Khan and even Sanjeev Kumar.

During the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77), he was imprisoned. Whilst in prison, he learned Hindi. Haji Mastan became a Muslim leader in 1984 and formed Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh in 1985, which had Doulatram Kawle as a co-operator. The 1975 film Deewaar was loosely based on Haji Mastan's life. The 2010 film "Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai" was heavily based on Mastan's life although it was not completely non-fiction. Actor Ajay Devgn portrayed the character of Haji Mastan as Sultan Mirza in the film while Emraan Hashmi portrays underworld don Dawood Ibrahim as Shoaib Khan.

Personal life

Haji mastan had no son so he orally adopted Mr.Sundar Shaekhar as his son. Haji Mastan raised him as his own son and now he is running his political party name 'Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh'. Sundar Shaekhar a born Hindu didn't converted to Islam, whereas Haji Mastan used to call him as Suleman Mirza.^[3]

References