Mumbai Mafia: Police vs the Underworld

Mumbai is the financial capital of India and one of major cities globally. It is fascinating that someone controlled mumbai and taxed others in addition to Govt just a few decades ago.

Don't expect it to be a movie but it is a good documentary on Mumbai history and some key events which happened in 1990s. I was too young then and this is a perfect history chapter for me I needed.

It shows the rise of mafia and how police has curbed down on mafia but then slowly how police started to show power and then slowly eventually there was an equilibrium.

Fun fact: the word "encounter" was in fact Indian English.

Mumbai mafia:police vs the underworld is a crime documentary film directed by raaghav dar and francis longhurst.

This docu does many things right and some things wrong. The police and their functioning is basically the centerstage here. Ravindra angre, pradeep sharma and all the other members of the encounter squad are interviewed and their views are thoroughly shown. They are unapologetic but also remorseful at the same time. 'Nobody likes to kill people' is what one police officer says. AA khan resigns even. This docu does humanize the police officials in a controversial encounter story. The gangsters are hardly focused upon. Dawood's background is touched and not detailed. Minty tejpal and hussain zaidi make appearances here and it was an honour to listen to them.

The screenplay during the bombay blast aftermath becomes slow in the first half. It shifts attention and loses its grip.

I would rate this docu 8.5.

This documentary is incredibly well done. The real footage from the 90s events mentioned is powerful, the reconstitutions have a real cinematic quality, and the interviews of the "encounter cops" are just fascinating. The whole story is wild and seems straight out of a movie.

The only criticism I have is that 3 our of the 4 journalists interviewed were very judgmental, in a way that came across as preachy and tone deaf. The female journalist literally says that the death of 1200 gangsters in encounters over the years was worse than the 1993 Bombay blasts... Obviously that's her opinion and it doesn't change how extremely well put together the documentary is, but it overall felt like the makers were trying to push the view that the encounter cops were as bad as the gangsters they killed, which I found to be a very manichean view.

But despite the caricatural opinions delivered by the interviewed journalists, the documentary is really worth a watch. The visuals, both old and new, are great and it's amazing to learn about the events through the very honest explanations of the famous encounter cops of the time.

It's a quick and cerebral look at the rise of D-company, police encounters, and how the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) evolved over the years. There was a time when encounter specialists deemed themselves judge, jury, and executioner - they'd ruthlessly remove gangsters from the dangerous streets of Mumbai by shooting them dead. The media also hailed them as saviours of the city, because it was easy to do so. Encounters would always make for front page news or shocking headlines, so it was natural for the officers to get a high out of it. When the world became more inquisitive about at least some of these questionable encounters, the saviours turned villains. The morality behind this is what the documentary leaves you to think about. At 87 minutes, it's an engaging affair.

Documentary gives us the brief insight into the world of 90s Mumbai Mafia and police encounters to neutralize the organized crime syndicate . Unbiased view towards the issue was the major positive of the documentary , at first it explores the rise of D Company and how cruel they were , which caused chaos in streets of Mumbai , to neutralize them cops chose the violence in which they ended up exploiting their authority , same time it shows how annoying and opportunistic the media are . Docu mostly shows the cops side of the story and how they became heroes of the country by encountering the criminals and at end how they became villians for there fake encounters .

Overall , documentary discusses the known incidents and facts that took place in two decades in 1hr 30mins . If you have less idea about the D Company crime syndicate and police encountering that took place in 90s and early 2ks of Mumbai then kindly give it a try . Worth watching .