Hussain Zaidi Age, Height, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hussain Zaidi

• S.Hussain Zaidi is one of the famous crime writers in India. He started as an investigative journalist and worked as a resident editor in the newspaper “The Asian Age.” Later, he also worked with some renowned Indian newspapers and tabloids like The Indian Express, Mid Day, and Mumbai Mirror.

• As a writer, he has researched about Mumbai’s Mafia for decades and come up with many books on the same, his few stories have been used by a few international authors such as Misha Glenny in her book “McMafia,” and Vikram Chandra in his book “Sacred Games.”
  

• His few books have been adapted into some famous Bollywood films such as ‘Shootout at Wadala’ (2013); based on his book ‘Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the ‘Mumbai Mafia’ (2012), Kabir Khan film ‘Phantom’ (2015); based on his book ‘Mumbai Avengers’ (2015), ‘Class of 83’ (2020); based on his book ‘Class of ’83’ (2019), ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi;’ based on his book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’ (2012) in which Alia Bhatt portrayed Gangubai Kathiawadi (a brothel owner in Mumbai during the ’60s). When he was asked about the approach of filmmakers towards his non-fiction books, to this Zaidi replied in an interview,
  

  To me, writing the books with factual accuracy is more important than what is portrayed on screen. Mostly, I have never had conflicts with filmmakers. I let them make whatever they want”.

  

  Shootout at Wadala team with Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai

• His book “Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia” (2012) is adapted into a Netflix series titled ‘Dongri to Dubai,’ the series is directed by Shujaat Saudagar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani.

• His book Black Friday (2002) was adopted in a Bollywood film with the same title. The film, directed by Anurag Kashyap, fell into controversy after the Central Board of Film Certification imposed a 3-year ban on the release of the film in 2007. Later, the Supreme Court of India allowed the film’s release in theatres on 9 February 2007 following its verdict in the 1993 Bombay bombings by TADA court. In an interview he was asked about if he ever imagined that crime would pay this handsomely, to which he replied, ^[4]NDTV
  

  I didn’t! As a crime reporter, I struggled to make a living. I had no clue that 20 years on there would be a true-crime genre. Or that I could make a living telling and shaping these stories.”

• According to Mr Zaidi, he never planned to become a writer, it was the noted Indian author Vikram Chandra who suggested him to write biographies of some notable Mumbai mafia.

• He mentored the late Indian journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, also known as ‘J Dey’ for his crime reporting and investigative journalism.

• His new books are “London Confidential: The Chinese Conspiracy (2020)”, “Eleventh Hour (2020)” which is a tribute to the men in uniform, “The Endgame (2020)” which is based on politics, betrayal and unbelievable terror.
  

• In 1997, he made headlines when he interviewed Dawood Ibrahim for The Indian Express. Reportedly, in the interview, he talked about the 1993 Bombay bombings.

• He interviewed Abu Salem to write a book on him, Abu Salem suggested Hussain Zaidi write a script for a film and not a book. Even though Zaidi mentioned that he is only interested in writing a book as he is a journalist and not a scriptwriter, to this Abu Salem said-
  

  Arre chiller kaam kyun karte ho? Film ki script likho. Agar tum film likhoge toh tumhare paas director log bag bhar ke paise laayenge. Main jo story bataunga na jab wo parde pe aayegi toh log uth ke toilet tak ke liye nahi jaayenge.”

• He was once kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq. Hussain Zaidi visited Iraq to talk to people who were close to Saddam Hussein to get insights about Saddam Hussein when the US forces toppled Saddam Hussein. He was saved from that situation when the kidnapper thought that he was a close friend of Amitabh Bachchan‘s. ^[5]Hindustan Times

• He is the associate producer of Terror in Mumbai (2009), an HBO documentary, which is based on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008.

• Hussain Zaidi, along with Vikram Chandra, owns a blog titled “The Writers’ Room.” It is a joint venture between Granthika (a writing app) and Blue Salt (a publication house imprinted by Hussain Zaidi), which is first the Indian imprint by the UK-based publishing house Penguin India, and Pratilipi (an Indian online self-publishing app).
  

  Hussain Zaidi’s collaboration with Vikram Chandra for the Writer’s Room