Scam 2003: The Telgi Story marks a stellar addition to the scam-verse created by Hansal Mehta, a thrilling genre that many filmmakers couldn’t tap into. Just like its predecessor Scam 1992, that attained acclaim within days of its release, the new series with a different premise, a different director but with that same distinctive flavour consists of all the ingredients required to meticulously tackle a complicated and windy real-life story of a street-smart con artist. If anything, Scam 2003 offers the most unblemished blueprint for the filmmakers on how to go about making an alluring biopic. Since taut writing is one of the strong suits of the show, it entices you and sucked you into its world of nerdy financial lingos and bizarre hijinks.
Abdul Karim Telgi (played by Gagan Dev Riar) chronicles his own journey, starting right from a packed compartment of a train, where he sells fruits to the customers through his ammo of wit and gift of gab. His magnetic persona brushes off well with a passenger, who offers him a job, only if he comes to Mumbai. With poverty looming over him like a melphitic shadow, Abdul decides to take the plunge. Against his family’s wishes, he moves to Mumbai and arrives at the guesthouse run by the man he met on that train. The man, upon recognising him, offers him a job.
In no time, Abdul turns the fate of the failing guesthouse by bringing in customers. Amid reveling in carrying out the operations of the guest house, he falls in love with that man’s daughter, marries her and flies to the Gulf for seven years, to chase his dreams of making money. But the yearning for his wife and kids pulls him back to Mumbai. But after returning, as a side hustle, he forges people’s documents so that they can illegally go to the Gulf countries to make a living. However, this philanthropic endeavour invites the cops one day, and he lands in the jail. Still defiant, he meets an unlikely accomplice behind the bars, with whom he discovers the route to an insane amount of money, by identifying the importance of stamp papers. That marks the beginning of a new era for him, as he climbs the ladders of success by stealing and counterfeiting stamp papers. The series captures all the predicaments and challenges he encounters along the way and how skillfully he dodges the custodians of law. But in his quest to earn wealth, he puts friendship and relationships on stake. Whether he succeeds in building his empire or not is for the viewers to find out.
What really hooks you to Scam 2003 and its premise is its subito-styled screenplay, which unfolds at a break-neck speed. Due to the fast pace of the series, one barely gets the time to get distracted. Instead, you’ll find yourself invested in all the characters, especially Abdul. Regardless of the episodes being long,
there are many sub-plots unraveling simultaneously that retain the thrill and keep you close to the edge of your seats. From the get go, the dialogues and the interaction between all the characters forms an essential conduit between us and their motives. The credit also goes to the makers of the show for bringing forth the ease in understanding the complex, market-heavy jargons and operations, owing to copious amount of research and attention to intricate details.
Tushar Hiranandani and Hansal Mehta also deserve an applause for adding the unique flavour of realism to the story and the characters. The five-episodes series is able to live up to the legacy of Scam 1992, only because of the symbiotic relationship between real and make-believe. It’s that nearly-perfect and balanced line that the makers tread, that largely adds to it’s brilliance. The crisp and palatable cinematography by Stanley Mudda, editing by Kunal Walve, music by Ishaan Chhabra and the casting of the actors by Mukesh Chhabra is the cherry on the cake.
Just like Pratik Gandhi became a breakthrough star after Scam 1992, for his portrayal of Harshad Mehta, Gagan Dev Riar as Abdul Telgi is the heart and soul of the show. The way he grasps even the minor quirks of the counterfeiter, is nothing short of flawless. He embodies the different phases of the character and compels the viewers to like him, empathise with him, despise hum and loath him, all, just in the span of five episodes. The effortlessness in his craft and his delivery most definitely makes him the best candidate for Abdul Karim Telgi and his arc. As phenomenal as he is, other actors too have done an incredible job. Whether it’s Talat Aziz Sameer Dharmadhikari, Bharat Jadhav or Sana Amin Sheikh, Shashank Ketkar or Bhavana Balsavar, they all have given their best to their characters and the story.
If you feel saturated with all the crime and revenge-dramas on your OTT platforms and want to take a dive into the ‘financial-thriller’ genre, mastered by Hansal Mehta, then Scam 2003 is definitely the show for you. It’s addictive, fun, binge-worthy and most importantly, it’s made with honest labour and hard work. The series also enlightens you about the life of a notorious man, who was embroiled in a mammoth scandal worth Rs 30,000 crores. To sum it up, Scam 2003, just like Scam 1992 deserves all the love, appreciation and acclaim.
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