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Many have coined Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar as the last Godfather of underworld in the Indian context. He is infamous for smuggling of drugs, arms and other illicit things and also for extortions and contract killing apart from being the main brain behind bomb blasts in Mumbai. Once a mischievous boy of an aging police constable, Dawood rose to new heights in early 90's and engulfed the whole underworld.

But not many know what used to happen in the underworld before the rise of 'D' company, a term coined for gang of Dawood. The story dates back to pre- partition era when a young boy from Afghanistan came to Bombay and started drug racket in western parts of India. The boy, Abdul Karim Khan Sher Khan, was forefather of the Godfather and is mostly known as Karim Lala in police files. It was Karim Lala who took Dawood under his wings and taught the tricks and secrets of underworld. It was when Karim Lala grew old that the battle for the cont

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'D' tracks the story of Mumbai underworld before Dawood was a big name. The main character (Dawood) is played by Mira Nair's discovery Randeep Hooda, but he is given a Hindu name, Deshu, to avoid any controversy. Deshu is a commoner but has high ambitions to make it big in life. The life that he is leading doesn't take him near his dreams.

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So, he comes across the don of the day (Goga Kapoor) who not only takes him under his wings but also teaches him few tricks. Deshu learns everything fast and even his mentor didn't imagine that he will become a challenge for him. The rise of Deshu creates insecurity among the original men of underworld.

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On the other hand, Deshu is oblivious of all this, and he and his buddy Raghav (Chunky Pandey) carry on with whatever 'work' is assigned to them. Deshu has two rivals in line. They are sons of his mentor. These rivals (Yashpal Sharma and Sushant) are working overtime to get rid of Deshu. While looking

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Right from Ram Gopal Verma's first film 'Shiva', viewers been witnessing many facets of underworld in his films. Though, he has not directed 'D', but still there are many resemblances of his technique and shot-taking in 'D'. With 'D', Vishram Sawant makes his debut as a director in Bollywood. On the face value, Vishram promises to be a great director with a great sense of cinema. Vishram has done good research on the subject before heading a team of talented people.

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He creates an ambience that is very apt for such type of films. He stays away from blood to portray a character that is the most dreaded criminal in this part of the world. The best of the film is that it does not put its character as more than normal human being and that has always been the crux of the entire underworld films made under Ram Gopal Verma's banner. Vishram Sawant gets good support. But it may also cast a doom on the career of Hooda as most of the characters play

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As an entertainer, 'D' is just above average film. This can be watched just to know how it all started before Dawood stole the limelight. The curiosity was further created by the so-called threat of Chhota Rajan to Ram Gopal Verma to stay away from glamorizing Dawood . The publicity gimmick may work in favor of the film for the opening weekend. Even Ramu was not sure of the end product. Therefore, he stayed away from distruibuting it though he has the capacity.

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One can see Rukhsar getting some more roles after this film, as many don't remember her first arrival some 13 years back in 'Yaad Rakhegi Duniya' with Aditya Panscholi. She has done an impressive role even in her short appearance and so can be said for Isha Koppikar. 'D' is flooded with many known and unknown faces; creating a problem for the viewer to remember about three dozen characters. The film's future depends on the first week of its run. Going by the quality of t.