Only a few years after delivering the greatest blockbuster in the history of Indian cinema, Sholay, director Ramesh Sippy made the film Shakti, which united two titans of Hindi films. Starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar, the movie was released in 1982, and was produced by Mushir Alam. However, only a few months before release, Mushir found himself at the centre of a story that could’ve been adapted into a film itself. Mushir was kidnapped by gangsters on his daily commute to work, extorted out of Rs 2 lakh, and beaten up badly over three days. Dilip Kumar insisted that he report the matter to the police, but little did they know that the kidnapping case would blow up into something massive, involving none other than gansgter Dawood Ibrahim.
In a recent interview with journalist S Hussain Zaidi, the highly regarded former Mumbai ACP Madhukar Zende recalled the story in detail. He said, “The movie Shakti was about to come out, and the producer had a manager named Harish Sugandh. He’d brag to everybody about having Rs 20 lakh in black money. Word reached the Pathaan gang, who had recently murdered Dawood’s brother. Near Haji Ali, they stopped Mushir’s car, blindfolded him, and dragged him to their vehicle. He had a gun in his car, but he couldn’t reach it. They took him to a chawl, and beat him up. They said, ‘We know you have Rs 20 lakh, give it to us’. He said that he only has Rs 2 lakh, which he gave them and they let him go.”
Mushir didn’t want to escalate the matter further, but Dilip Kumar wouldn’t hear of it. Zende continued, “When Mushir returned, he met Dilip Kumar, who was shocked to see him roughed up. He insisted that Mushir report the attack and kidnapping to us. Dilip Kumar called the commissioner himself. The commissioner told me to investigate. Mushir had no idea where he’d been kept, but he remembered hearing kids reciting the namaz daily. One of my constables was listening to Mushir’s story, and he figured out the location based on his description. He took me there.”
Shakti starred Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar in lead roles.
Zende said that as the investigation unfolded, new angles began to reveal themselves. “We took Mushir along with us, and he was certain that it was the room he’d been kept in. Another constable of mine knew who the room belonged to, and that they were in Ahmedabad. We went to Ahmedabad, found the guy, and arrested him. While he was in the lockup, he tried to send a note to his family via the guy who went to give him food. The guy showed the note to us; he was telling his kids to hide everything in his house. He lived in Mahim. We went to investigate in the house, and found stacks of revolvers and rifles,” he said.
Zende then shared what happened after the case was closed. He said, “We found out that he was in hiding after killing Dawood’s brother. Even Dawood hadn’t been able to track him. After the incident, Mushir came to me and offered me Rs 20,000 as a gesture of gratitude for recovering his Rs 2 lakh. I said no. I requested him to arrange a premiere of Shakti for the police. He did, and it was a great evening. All the policemen came with their wives and children. The canteen was on the house!”
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In his memoirs, another police officer who worked on the case, said that the Pathaan gang was short on funds after launching a war against Dawood, and was on the lookout for rich people to extort. Mushir happened to be one of the people on their radar.
