Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar, 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.
Underworld career Varadarajan was born in Thoothukudi, Madras
Presidency in 1926. He moved to Bombay in the early 1960s. Working as a porter at VT
Station, he began his crime life by distributing illicit liquor. In association with Haji Mastan,
who had by then established a smuggling operation at Bombay Port Docks, he ventured into stealing
dock cargo. He later diversified into contract killings, narcotics trade and land encroachment.
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.
He ran a parallel judicial system within 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 VT 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. His opulent pandals at Matunga station during
the annual Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations were quite famous and visited by celebrities. However,
after the collapse of the cotton mills in Mumbai in the mid-1980s, their relevance ended.
Varadarajan died in Chennai on 2 January 1988 due to a heart attack. Haji Mastan brought
his body to Mumbai in a chartered Indian Airlines plane for last rites 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. In popular culture
In 1987, Mani Ratnam made his film Nayagan, based on Varadarajan's life. Actor Kamal Hassan
played the lead role. The 1988 Hindi movie Dayavan, starring Vinod
Khanna was a Hindi adaptation of Nayagan. In a television interview, Amitabh Bachchan
stated that he modeled his dialogues and mannerisms in the movie Agneepath after Varadarajan's.
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.
Citations
References Zaidi, S. Hussain. Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades
of Mumbai Mafia. New Delhi: Roli Books. ISBN 978-81-7436-894-2. Dey, J.. "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. "'Of course Velu Nayakan doesn’t
dance'". The Hindu. Singh, Vijay. "Amitabh Bachchan recalls the
old dons of Bombay of yore". Times of India. Retrieved 22 July 2013.