Haji Mastan (Gangster) Age, Biography, Wife, Affairs, Facts & More

Bio
Real Name	Mastan Haider Mirza
Nickname	Haji Mastan, Bawa
Profession	Gangster, Filmmaker, Politician
Party	Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 180 cm in meters- 1.80 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 11”
Weight (approx.)	in Kilograms- 70 kg in Pounds- 154 lbs
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Personal Life
Date of Birth	1 March 1926
Birth Place	Panaikulam, Ramanathapuram District (Madras Presidency now Tamil Nadu), British India
Date of Death	9 May 1994
Place of Death	Bombay, (now Mumbai) Maharashtra, India
Death Cause	Cardiac Arrest
Age (as on 9 May 1994)	68 Years
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Pisces
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
School	Did Not Attend
College	Did Not Attend
Educational Qualification	None
Family	Father- Haider Mirza Mother- Not Known Brother- Not Known Sister- Not Known
Religion	Islam
Caste	Tamil Muslim
Ethnicity	Tamil
Address	Baitul Surur, Peddar Road, South Mumbai
Controversies	• He was believed to control much of Mumbai's smugglings during 1960-1975. • He was also believed to manipulate the politicians and bureaucrats for his smuggling consignments.
Favourite Things
Favourite Actors	Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra
Favourite Actress	Madhubala
Favourite Car	Mercedes Benz
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Sona (Film Actress)
Wife/Spouse	1. Shahjehan Begum 2. Sona (film actress)
Children	Son- Sundar Shaekhar (adopted) Daughter- Shamshad Supariwala
Money Factor
Net Worth	Not Known

Some Lesser Known Facts About Haji Mastan

Did Haji Mastan smoke:? Yes

Did Haji Mastan drink alcohol:? Not Known

He was born in a village named Pannaikulam near Ramanathapuram in the coastal town of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu.

He spent his childhood in poverty.

In 1934, at the age of 8, he migrated to Bombay (now Mumbai) along with his father, Haider Mirza.

To make ends meet, he started working at a small cycle repairing shop along with his father at Charni Road. However, it wasn’t enough for his family’s subsistence.

While working at the cycle repairing shop, Mastan admired the sprawling bungalows and luxury cars belonging to the famous and rich. Mastan aspired to have a bungalow and cars like them someday.

Even after working for more than 8 years at the cycle repairing shop, Mastan couldn’t get enough revenue to fulfill his desire.

While in his early twenties, Mastan met Galib Sheikh (an Arab Gentleman) who found Mastan a suitable person for helping him to smuggle gold biscuits out of the docks. Mastan started making a neat sum of money by helping Galib Sheikh in his smuggling business.

Later he joined hands with Sukkur Narayan Bakhia (a smuggler from Daman) who used to smuggle precious goods into Daman and Mumbai from the Gulf countries.

Soon, he made a good fortune that helped him fulfilling his childhood dream to own a sea-facing bungalow in Mumbai. He bought a bungalow at Peddar Road; however, he spent most of his life in a small room built on the terrace of his bungalow.

Realizing that the film producers had to struggle to finance their films, Mastan jumped into film financing and eventually turned to become a filmmaker himself.

He also developed an interest in electronic goods and real estate business. He owned some electronic shops in Manish Market on Mohammad Ali Road.

Haji Mastan is considered Mumbai’s first ‘Don” and has been given the status of a “Celebrity Gangster.”

When Mastan realized that the inter-gang rivalry was at its peak in Mumbai, he called a meeting of Mumbai’s all top gang leaders at his residence and crafted a plan to split Mumbai between the gangs so that each gang could operate in their respective domains without any rivalry between them.

Interestingly, Mastan did not operate a gang of his own. His name was enough to carry out his smuggling operations. Karim Lala and Varadarajan Mudaliar were among his best friends who helped him run his smuggling business.

Being a film financier and film distributor, Mastan developed a close rapport with many Bollywood personalities such as Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, etc.

Throughout his life, he never went to Jail except during the Indian Emergency (1975-1977). While in prison, he came close to Jaiprakash Narayan and got influenced by his ideologies. In prison, he started learning Hindi.

After coming out of the Jail, he visited Haj, and thereafter he came to be referred as “Haji Mastan.”

He started devoting his time to the poor and downtrodden and helped them out both financially as well as morally. There could be seen a long queue of complainants outside his bungalow.

In 1984, Mastan became a Muslim leader, and in 1985, he formed ‘Dalit Muslim Surakhsha Maha Sangh,’ which was later renamed as ‘Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh.’

Mastan had a crush on Madhubala (the leading Bollywood actress of that era) and wanted to marry her. However, their marriage couldn’t see the light of the day, so, he married to another Bollywood actress, Sona, who was a lookalike of Madhubala.

The blockbuster movie, Deewar (1975), was loosely based on Haji Mastan’s life, in which his character was played by the megastar Amitabh Bachchan. The 2010 film ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbai’ was also based on Mastan’s life, in which his character was played by Ajay Devgan.

Haji Mastan had no son, so he adopted Sundar Shaekhar who was born Hindu and didn’t convert to Islam, but Haji Mastan used to call him ‘Suleman Mirza.’

Haji Mastan was fond of Mercedes cars and most of his life he used a ‘Mercedes-Benz 200D.’

Interestingly, Haji Mastan never fired even a single bullet in his life and had never been involved in any sort of brawl with anyone.