When Ram Gopal Varma talks about the underworld, people listen. And when he endorses a book on the subject by none other than former Mumbai Police Commissioner D. Sivanandhan, it’s time to pay attention. Taking to social media, RGV revealed the cover of Brahmastra Unleashed, calling it an “unputdownable read” by someone “more qualified than anyone” to tell the story of the rise and fall of Mumbai’s criminal empire.
The book, written by Sivanandhan himself, promises a first-person look into a time when Mumbai was gripped by gang wars, extortion rackets, and shootouts that could rival any action movie. Between 1998 and 2001, he led one of the most aggressive crackdowns in Indian policing history—detaining over 1,600 criminals and confiscating more than 2,500 illegal weapons. But Brahmastra Unleashed isn’t just a laundry list of arrests—it’s a behind-the-scenes chronicle of strategy, grit, and high-stakes law enforcement.
Sivanandhan isn’t new to public service or storytelling. Apart from being a key figure in Mumbai’s post-26/11 police reforms, he also co-authored a bestseller on leadership. What sets this book apart is the subject matter—gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan are no longer distant headlines, but characters in a deadly game that Sivanandhan himself helped dismantle. The title might sound cinematic, but the man behind it has lived every chapter.
Ram Gopal Varma’s seal of approval carries weight. His cult classics like Satya and Company helped define how India imagines its underworld: complex, brutal, and strangely human. By endorsing Brahmastra Unleashed, he bridges real-life policing with the cinematic myths it often inspires. It’s not hard to imagine the book being adapted for screen—and who better than RGV to helm it?
Whether you’re a true-crime buff, a fan of hard-boiled police tales, or just curious about what really happened behind the headlines, Brahmastra Unleashed is poised to be a gripping, gritty ride through the underbelly of Mumbai—told by the man who fought it, one bulletproof decision at a time.