Varadarajan Mudaliar

Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar (1926 – 2 January 1988), also known as Vardhabhai, was an Indian gangster. For two decades from early 1960s to 1980s, he was one of the most powerful mob bosses in Bombay along with Haji Mastan and Karim Lala.^[1]

Underworld career

Varadarajan was born in Thoothukudi, Madras Presidency in 1926 to a union leader who was shot to death by the police.^[2] He moved to Bombay in 1945. Working as a porter at VT Station, he began his crime life by distributing illicit liquor.^[3] In association with Haji Mastan, who had by then established a smuggling operation at Bombay Port Docks, he ventured into stealing dock cargo.^[4] He later diversified into contract killings at the behest of businessmen, narcotics trade and land encroachment^[5]. Through the seventies, Varadarajan controlled the criminal operations in east and north central Mumbai, Karim Lala held sway in south and central Mumbai and most smuggling and illegal construction financing was managed by Haji Mastan.

Varadarajan ran a parallel judicial system within the Tamil community. His word prevailed in Matunga and Dharavi areas, where Tamils were in majority.

Mumbai was ruled by the trio Haji Mastan, Karim Lala and Varadarajan Mudaliar. The trio has the solid backing of their communities. Their word was law for the people belonging to their communities.

But by mid-1980s the police officer Y.C.Pawar targeted Varadarajan Mudaliar. Most of his gang members were eliminated or imprisoned. Varadarajan Mudaliar fled from Mumbai to Chennai.

Personal life

While a porter at CST Station, Varadarajan began offering food to the poor at the nearby dargah of Bismillah Shah Baba and kept the tradition up as his fortunes rose.^[6]

His opulent pandals at Matunga station during the annual Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations were quite famous and visited by celebrities.^[7] However, after the collapse of the cotton mills in Mumbai in the mid-1980s, their relevance ended .

Varadarajan died of a heart attack in Chennai on 2 January 1988.^[8] Haji Mastan brought his body to Mumbai in a chartered Indian Airlines plane for last rites^[9] as per Varda's wishes .Many people mourned his death. Life came to a standstill in Dharavi, Matunga and Sion Koliwada when his body was flown into the city. Varadarajan's dear friend, Selva, was with him throughout his adult life till his death..

In popular culture

In 1987, Mani Ratnam made his film Nayagan, based on Varadarajan's life. Actor Kamal Hassan played the lead role.^[10]

The 1988 Hindi movie Dayavan, starring Vinod Khanna was a Hindi adaptation of Nayagan.

One of the characters in the 1991 Malayalam film Abhimanyu, which was based on the Mumbai underworld activities, holds resemblance to Muthaliar with the character's name being the same.

In a television interview, Amitabh Bachchan stated that he modeled his dialogues and mannerisms in the movie Agneepath after Varadarajan's.^[11]

In the 2013 Tamil movie Thalaiva, Sathyaraj's character is mainly extracted from Varadarajan's life. Vijay played the lead and as Sathyaraj's son.

In the 2015 Tamil movie Yagavarayinum Naa Kaakka, starring Mithun Chakraborty a character is mainly extracted from Varadarajan's life.

Citations

References

• Zaidi, S. Hussain (2012). Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of Mumbai Mafia. New Delhi: Roli Books. ISBN 978-81-7436-894-2. 
• Dey, J. (30 July 2010). "Fear was his best tool". MiD DAY. Retrieved 22 July 2013. 
• "A Don's Funeral". Statenotes. India Today: 22. January 1988. Retrieved 25 July 2013. 
• Haasan, Kamal (20 October 2012). "'Of course Velu Nayakan doesn't dance'". The Hindu. Chennai. 
• Singh, Vijay (3 July 2011). "Amitabh Bachchan recalls the old dons of Bombay of yore". Times of India. Retrieved 22 July 2013.