Be it Aladdin or Alibaba.
I have always found those stories very fascinating, where the protagonist was just a regular fella, going through an adventurous journey against the stories which had an ideal beginning, such as “Once upon a time, there was a king.”
One such story was of the story of Harshad Shantilal Mehta, which interestingly starts as a regular fella but ends with “Once upon a time, there was a Harshad Mehta”. The story can only be remembered if it is told the right way and no one has done a better job at it than the web series called “The Scam 1992”. In the OTT world, where shows filled with drugs, violence, sex scenes, and nudity have spoiled the choices, The Scam web series makes as big an impact as the events that inspired it.
And what a beautiful Scam it is! Gee!
It is quite easy to misconstrue the story as rags to riches which certainly it is not. The best words that I can think of to describe the Scam, would be a story of “A Man consumed in his own greed fighting the system in the dirtiest way”. The only way he could tackle the system was with the trust of India’s commoners, bank officials, and politicians. It is the story of a stock trader who fiddled with the rotten system to gain profit, wealth, and fame. He did it with such conviction and flamboyance that the system which was controlled by a chosen few; couldn’t stand him anymore. They decided to burn him at whatever cost. The price was paid in the form of a meltdown of the Indian stock market. His means to win the war against the system were so wrong that it bled the system and the Indian commoners with it, but we are getting ahead of ourselves in this story.
It would be a gross understatement to say that a lot of effort is required to make any good art form. Like a magician moving his wand over a hat to produce a rabbit, with a few strokes over Google I found out that the team of the Scam web series worked close to 2 years to make this 10 hours of work, which is equivalent to the shooting of 3 movies, all in 2 years. The preparation itself was about 1 and a half years where 90 days was the shooting schedule. This must be a mammoth undertaking to portray a person, without prejudice because it is a thin line to showcase Mr. Mehta as either a hero or a villain. Doing so would have been an injustice to the art of storytelling. That’s what this web series did so magnificently; to tell a story of a man flawed by greed, ambition, and showmanship. And nothing more than that.
The Story
The story as the name suggests happened in the 90ies of India and how beautifully they have created a world of 90ies. It starts with worry about the house which was getting smaller day by day. Hasn’t all of India’s middle class felt that? It starts with worries about the job and aimlessness. Haven’t we all battled these demons in our youth? A simple TV News reading scene in the episode teleported me to my childhood days. On a similar CRT monitor TV, I used to watch my beloved The Jungle Book and Rangoli shows. The relationship among the family members in the first few episodes was how we all grew up. Men would eat together and only at the end of their meal; would they start cajoling the ladies of the house to come to join them. As always father had a final say in all the matters and “being cautious” was considered to be a virtue. The dinner at the 5-star hotel scene depicts this so naturally, where the father slyly orders a Khichadi after spitting venomous words about the risky business of his sons. When the business goes belly up, the length at which a father can go to cover his son’s losses does resemble an uncle in your family or perhaps your father. That’s a big win for the series that it brings these characters to the “I know someone who’s exactly like this” category of the audience’s mind. The team presents the complex subject of share market fraud in a simple bull versus bear concept. I felt the biggest win for the director, was when knowing all the wrongdoing done by the lead character, you do feel sympathetic towards him; especially in the last episode.
The Background Score
Another plus for the series is the background score and title theme. Boy, does it linger in your mind, as you binge through episode after episode! I feel they have used music as an integral part of the storytelling rather than as a separate impressive piece. That’s why, the latter half of the series, communicates the emotions directly to you. After a long time, my ears were treated with such a delightful combination of beats that struck a perfect chord with every scene.
The Actor
And here is the meat of this web series, or the Real Lala of the story. Mr. Pratik Gandhi. I can’t even begin to document what to say about this man. He plays the Harshad Mehta in the series. But for many of us, he would be how we will remember Mr. Mehta in days to come. The casting director couldn’t have picked a better actor to play Harshad Mehta. Pratik eases in and out of many dimensions of Harshad Mehta. The trait starts with determination (to do something different), to dream big (to rule the Market one day when he barely had set his foot in), to be a doer (to get the tips from worker union), the passion that he imbibed (to pursue his dream), to be a salesman (to gather partners, customers), to aggressively chase his ambitions (to take on the bigger players in the market), the showmanship (the love for Lexus), to be a stubborn (while negotiating his position at the golf course) and many more. The reason I thank the casting director and especially the director- Hansal Mehta, was that it requires a combination of little madness and guts, just like what Harshad Mehta was, to play the character and Pratik Gandhi pulled it off perfectly. The mannerism he picked up for the role, be it the hint of a smile or the touch to his ring finger or the style in which he would sit in a chair or “can I stand and speak?” request; all were truly mesmerizing. The real Harshad Mehta was said to be heavily inspired by Amitabh Bachchan. We don’t know about that but surely Pratik brought out a version of Amitabh Bachchan, which was amazing to watch.
As they say, Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool, similarly, Pratik was made for Harshad Mehta’s role. As an engineer, he did a job and then moved to the sales and marketing area. As a typical engineer in our country, he too later pursued his passion for theater and acting. Despite being a Gujarati, he was blessed to not know about the share market. It was a blessing in disguise to play the character unbiased, he said in one of his interviews.
What Can You Learn?
Though The Scam would be reminding us what not to do, I would still say there were a few details that we should surely imbibe in our lives. Despite a lot of troubles, Harshad always had a hint of a smile on his face. Being constantly criticized by his brother, he always listened to him patiently. Pratik beautifully acted the difference between listening and hearing. He just listened and did exactly what he wanted to. The brothers always stood together. In all the troubles, Ashwin never turned against Harshad. The warmth of love between a husband and his wife was also beautifully portrayed. How affectionately he called every person “Lala” made an impression in my heart. I am sure to believe that the series would also be remembered for some of its iconic dialogues. The most relevant point to remember was professionalism in journalism. It was shown with such grace that instantly made us nostalgic.
As Suchita Dalal pointed out in one of her interviews, it was never about Harshad Mehta. The scam was always there. It was Harshad who brought it to notice. Looking back; I feel Indians, in a way would be glad that it happened because it was his guts and stubbornness that burned the rotten forest in public view.
I only wish the same “cleaning of the corrupt system” to happen to the institute that nominates Indian cinema or web series to world stage events; such as the Emmys and Oscars. I surely hope this series gets the nomination than the “4 More Shots Please 2” series.
It is high time we bring the real Indian craft to the world stage because Indian cinema is not always just sing-and-dance affairs.