Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir crime thriller film written by Rajat Arora and directed by Milan Luthria.

Produced by Ekta Kapoor under the Balaji Motion Pictures banner, Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai was released on 30 July 2010 to generally positive reviews from critics, and was a commercial success.

The film is loosely based on the lives of Mumbai underworld gangsters Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim.

Wilson, then recounts that 18 years ago, when he was posted as the ACP in the Mumbai crime branch, his inability to take necessary action led to the rise of Shoaib Khan, a dreaded gangster who played a central role in the bombings...

After experiencing a flood in his hometown of Madras, a young Mirza arrives in Mumbai, where he lands a job as a coal shoveller near the docks.

Through his influence, Mirza peacefully divides the city among four gangsters, thus thwarting police efforts to curb illegal activities.

Despite being a criminal, Sultan Mirza is portrayed as a man of principle with a heart of gold and a godfather-like figure to the people, even going to the extent of refraining from smuggling specific contraband like drugs which was against his Muslim faith.

Meanwhile, Shoaib, even in his childhood was a very ambitious person with a dark and daring character, who was frequently involved in petty theft.

His father, Hussain Khan, who is a Sub-Inspector with the Mumbai Police, tries in vain to guide and control his son; his anger against Shoaib began years ago when Shoaib and his best friend Javed were stealing money and got caught red handed by a man, by teaching his son a lesson, Hussain slapped him 5 times.

Shoaib's unscrupulous ambitions lead him to carry out trades and acts which Sultan himself would strongly condemn and abhor, including manufacturing illicit liquor, accepting contract killings, investing in drug peddling, and running extortion rackets.

As Mumbai's new underworld kingpin, he has since established a global criminal empire, which leaves any and all governments and forces no chance to reach him.

[2][5] The film depicts the growth of the Mumbai underworld, from crime and smuggling in its early stages to its connection with international terrorism in recent times.

It is believed to be based on the lives of real-life gangsters Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim, portrayed by the characters Sultan and Shoaib, respectively.

[18] In its opening weekend the film showed a day-wise growth in U.K. [Friday £15,755, Saturday £19,381 and Sunday £19,644] and a decent start in U.S. [approx.

Ajay Devgn and Prachi Desai received accolades for their nominations, while other awards were won for the film's music, playback and technical direction.

There were a total of 14 songs composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil, Neelesh Misra and Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Additional Chorus And Backing Voice By Rana Mazumder, Anupam Amod, Joy, Clint, Mariam, Niesha.