The story of Sapna, known in the Mumbai underworld as "Sapna Didi," is honestly one of those things that sounds like a movie script but was tragically real. Her actual name was Ashraf Khan, and her story is a mix of grief, cold-blooded revenge, and a really messed up betrayal.
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| (Photo Credit: tripti_dimri/Instagram) The True Story of Sapna and Hussain Ustara from O’Romeo |
Here is the breakdown of the "O'Romeo" story (though most people just call her Sapna Didi) and her deal with Hussain Ustara.
The Backstory: Why she wanted Dawood dead
Sapna wasn't always a gangster. She was a normal woman until her husband, Mahmood Kalia, was killed in a police encounter in the late 80s. She was convinced that Dawood Ibrahim—the big boss of the D-Company—was the one who tipped off the police to get rid of her husband.
After he died, she didn't just sit around and cry. She basically reinvented herself. She learned how to ride a bike, handle a gun, and started hanging out with the worst of the worst in Mumbai just to get close to Dawood.
The Alliance with Hussain Ustara
Since she couldn't take on the whole D-Company alone, she reached out to Hussain Ustara. Ustara was a rival gangster who absolutely hated Dawood. He was known for being a bit of a "barber" (ustara means razor) because of how he used to handle his enemies.
Sapna approached him with a plan:
The Goal: Assassinate Dawood Ibrahim during a cricket match in Sharjah.
The Strategy: She would pose as a fan or a reporter to get close enough to pull the trigger.
They started training together. Ustara was supposed to be her mentor and provide the muscle and the weapons. For a while, it actually looked like they might pull it off.
The "Inappropriate Touch" and the Fallout
This is where the partnership fell apart. According to the legends of the Mumbai underworld (and S. Hussain Zaidi's books, which are like the bible for this stuff), Ustara started getting the wrong idea.
During one of their secret meetings to plan the hit, Ustara allegedly touched her inappropriately or made a pass at her. For Sapna, this was the ultimate insult. She wasn't doing this for money or power; she was doing it for her dead husband.
She didn't just get mad—she completely cut ties with him instantly. She realized she couldn't trust him to have her back if he didn't even respect her. She decided to go it alone, which was basically a suicide mission in that world.
The Tragic Ending
Without Ustara's protection and because word had leaked out that she was hunting the "Don," Dawood's men got to her first. In 1990, several gunmen entered her house in Nagpada and killed her in a really brutal way. It's said that the hit was so violent because Dawood wanted to send a message to anyone else—especially a woman—who thought they could challenge him.
Side note: If you're interested in this, the movie Gangubai Kathiawadi was actually supposed to be about her originally (Sanjay Leela Bhansali was looking at the story), and there's another project called Sapna Didi that was in the works for a long time starring Deepika Padukone, but I think it got shelved.
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