Hussain Ustra, Mumbai’s feared blade-wielding contract killer, rose in the 1980s, challenged Dawood Ibrahim with Sapna Didi, and inspired Vishal Bhardwaj’s O’Romeo before his violent death in 1997.
Long before Mumbai’s underworld became synonymous with guns and international crime syndicates, the city’s streets were ruled by blade-wielding enforcers, and among the most feared of them was Hussain Ustra.
Active during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hussain Ustra, born Hussain Abdul Sattar, was a small-time criminal who rose rapidly through Mumbai’s violent gang ecosystem, earning notoriety as one of the city’s deadliest contract killers. His preferred weapon of choice was the razor blade, which earned him the nickname “Ustra” (meaning barber’s razor), and his reputation for brutal efficiency soon made him a feared name across Mumbai’s crime circles.
From Street Tough to Underworld Enforcer
Hussain Ustra began his criminal career in Mumbai’s congested neighbourhoods, initially working under local gang leaders before aligning himself with Arun Gawli’s D-Company rival factions. At a time when Dawood Ibrahim’s syndicate dominated the city, Ustra carved out his own violent identity, reportedly executing multiple contract killings and assaults.
Unlike the gun-toting dons of later years, Ustra’s terror stemmed from his close-combat brutality, with blade attacks that were both swift and savage. His rising influence eventually brought him into direct conflict with Dawood’s network- an audacity few dared to attempt.
According to Hussain Zaidi’s ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’, from which
_O’Romeo_ has been adapted, Ustra had said that his terror began when he was just 15 years old. “When I realised that things were going out of control, and I had no means to escape. I removed my razor from inside my pocket and attacked the ringleader. I managed to inflict a wound that began at his neck and ran right to his crotch. He was bleeding a lot and I managed to get away. He was taken to a hospital and the doctor there made a strange remark. He said that the person who had cut him had done so with surgical precision. And soon, before I could realise it, the name Ustara got stuck to my name. From then on people started fearing me, all because of that small weapon,” he had told the authors, as mentioned in several reports.
The Woman at the Centre: Sapna Didi
A crucial figure in Hussain Ustra’s story is Sapna Didi, the woman widely believed to have been romantically involved with him. Their volatile relationship and shared ambition to challenge Dawood Ibrahim form the emotional and narrative spine of
Vishal Bhardwaj’s _O’Romeo_.
According to reports, Sapna Didi was instrumental in pushing Ustra toward increasingly audacious moves against Dawood’s empire, ultimately leading to a daring but doomed assassination attempt on the underworld kingpin.
The Fatal Hit That Changed Everything
Hussain Ustra’s story ended violently in 1997, when he was gunned down in Mumbai at the age of 28. His killing is widely believed to have been orchestrated by Dawood Ibrahim’s men as retribution for the assassination plot.
His death marked the brutal end of a gangster who dared to challenge India’s most powerful crime lord, a move that cemented his legend in Mumbai’s crime folklore.
From Crime Files to Cinema with O’Romeo
Director Vishal Bhardwaj’s O’Romeo, starring Shahid Kapoor and Tripti Dimri, draws heavily from Hussain Ustra’s life, blending real-world crime history with tragic romance and stylised violence. Shahid’s character channels Ustra’s raw intensity, while the film explores how love, ambition, and obsession collide in the deadly ecosystem of Mumbai’s underworld.
Though fictionalised for dramatic effect, the film’s emotional core remains rooted in one of the city’s most gripping gangster legends**,** the rise and fall of a blade-wielding killer who dared to take on Dawood Ibrahim and paid the ultimate price.
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