Hussain Zaidi

Career

Zaidi's began his career in journalism while working for the newspaper The Asian Age, where he became the Resident Editor. Zaidi later worked for several other periodicals, including The Indian Express, Mid Day and Mumbai Mirror. His in-depth research on the Mumbai mafia has been used by international authors like Misha Glenny in McMafia and Vikram Chandra in his book Sacred Games. Zaidi was once kidnapped in Iraq.

Zaidi has covered the Mumbai mafia for several decades. His 2002 book Black Friday detailed the 1993 Mumbai bombings, an attack comprising 13 explosions that killed 250 people. The book was adapted two years later, in 2004, into a film by Anurag Kashyap also titled Black Friday. The film was so controversial that the Indian Censor Board did not allow it to be released in India for three years and was finally released on 9 February 2007 after Supreme Court of India allowed it following the verdict in the '93 Bombay blast case was delivered by TADA court. In Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia, a historical account of the Mumbai mafia, Zaidi conducted an interview with crime boss Dawood Ibrahim, who is suspected of having orchestrated the bombings. The book was adapted into a film, Shootout at Wadala by Sanjay Gupta.

Zaidi is also associate producer of the HBO documentary Terror in Mumbai, which is based on the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

The 2015 Kabir Khan film Phantom starring Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif, is an adaptation of Zaidi's book Mumbai Avengers, and the screenplay of the film has been written in co-ordination with the author.

Publications

1. Black Friday (2002)
2. Mafia Queens of Mumbai (2011)
3. Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia (2012)
4. Headley and I (2012)
5. Byculla to Bangkok (2014)
6. My Name is Abu Salem (2014)
7. Mumbai Avengers (2015)
8. Dangerous Minds (2017)