(CONTAINS SPOILERS)
(The images have been taken from Sumit Purohit's twitter timeline.)
I remember being enthralled right from the day the
teaser of this web series was released – A star from our Gujarati film industry
was making his debut as a lead actor in a BIG web series.
What followed was an excruciating wait before the
series finally released on 9th October. The rest, as they say, is
history!
"SCAM 1992 – THE HARSHAD MEHTA STORY" is
a masterpiece in all aspects – be it the writing, the dialogues, the direction,
the performances or the music. It is very difficult to find faults in such a
perfectly made series.
Padma Shri Sucheta Dalal & Debashis Basu's book is
converted into an extraordinary screenplay by Sumit Purohit and Sourav Dey. The
amount of research is evident – I can imagine the number of months or even
years that must have gone behind writing the script, dialogues, finding
locations, obtaining permissions and most importantly, recreating the 80's and
the early 90's as authentic as possible.
With 10 episodes, each having a runtime of around 50
to 60 minutes, this is a long series. The meticulousness in recreating Bombay
of the 80's and 90's is amazing. There are so many lovely small moments – the reference
to the Pan Parag advertisement, the conversation between Harshad and his dad
one last time, R.K Laxman's introductory scene and the other one where he
explains why his common man isn't a woman, Sucheta Dalal staying up late
eagerly waiting for that phone call, Harshad's determination to master golf, the
list goes on and on.
DIRECTION
Hansal Mehta knows how to keep the audience captivated
despite a long runtime, something he has skillfully done in relatively slow
films like Citylights and Aligarh.
The biggest positive about his direction is that he
never shows one side of the coin; he portrays Harshad as he was – along with
his strengths and weaknesses. Also, he sticks to his regional roots. There are
loads of Gujarati dialogues and proverbs and they lend utmost authenticity to
the proceedings. Also, having Gujarati actors and a Gujarati director means
there are no fake accents – something which can be highly irritating.
Another good thing is the mentioning of the exact
dates at many places. It shows the research gone behind the making. Also, there
is some lovely use of retro songs in each episode, especially during the end.
WRITING & DIALOGUES
Writers Sumit Purohit & Sourav Dey do a fabulous
job. It is indeed a tough job to convert a book into a web series that can hold
the attention of the audience.
The guys are also credited for additional dialogues along with the main dialogue writers Karan Mukesh Vyas and Vaibhav Vishal, both of which do an outstanding job. The dialogues are witty, effective and most importantly explain the stock market in a simple way to the common man.
While I am discussing about writing, it would be
unfair to forget mentioning the two mainstays – Sucheta Dalal & Debashis Basu. I have recently started reading
their book, and I am finding it fascinating till now. Hats off to your
journalism – something which has been replaced by sensationalism in today's
world. It wouldn't be wrong to say that had it not been for their perseverance,
there wouldn't have been the unearthing of the scam, there wouldn't have been any
web series made and I wouldn't have been writing this review.
MUSIC
Usually, music is of less importance in such a series
where there is abundant use of old hindi songs and hardly any scope for new
tunes.
But all it takes is one addictive signature hook to
change things. Achint Thakkar gives us the absolutely stunning theme which made
me listen to it during the beginning of every episode rather than skip the
credits.
Also, I loved the background score – it is not at all
jarring and loud. It is subtle and minimal.
PERFORMANCES
"SCAM 1992" has a mammoth starcast; and
every single actor delivers. This is one of those works where you realize the
importance of having a damn good casting director on board. Mukesh Chhabra
deserves full marks for every single actor he chose, the most important one
being Pratik Gandhi.
As Pranav Bhai, Jay Upadhyay is excellent. He has a
supporting role and he gives his very best.
As Bhushan, Chirag Vohra is another brilliant
performance. One can sense his increasing exasperation when the Mehta brothers
treat him inferiorly. You know that very moment that this guy is trouble. The final
outburst and confrontation is very well done, although the cussing could have
been reduced.
As Harshad's wife, Anjali Barot gives a very convincing
performance – I loved few of her scenes – when her father-in-law tells her to
come sit with them for dinner, the scene where she plans a vacation to Shimla, and
the scene where she scolds Sucheta Dalal & Debashis Basu.
K.K Raina as Manoj Pherwani is at his best as always. He
has an important role and he portrays it well.
Ananth Narayan Mahadevan as the RBI chief delivers a
superb performance. I loved that portion when he is rendered speechless and
flustered at the press conference.
Lalit Parimoo as the CBI director does a good job. But
the other guy from the CBI a.k.a Mr
Rajat Kapoor steals the thunder for the few episodes he appears – he is
smashing. The last I loved him so much was in "Kapoor & Sons".
As the menacing Madhavan, Kapoor manages to create few
of the finest and most tense interrogating sequences in a long time. I so badly
expected him to come back after he gave his resignation.
Satish Kaushik as Manu Mundra "Cobra" gets a
meaty role after ages and he leaps at it with both hands. Nikhil Dwivedi is
cast well, his diction is bang on, however I found his character pretentious at
times with dialogues that seems heavy and out of place.
Jaimini Pathak as Sitharaman is outstanding. His south
Indian diction, his perennially frightened expression – everything is done
perfectly. A Gujarati actor playing the role of a South Indian with so much
conviction – Aap saare BR le jaao saar!
Gujarati actors Kavin Dave and Paresh Ganatra do well.
Vivek Vaswani as the SBI chairman does a good job.
Faisal Rashid as Debashis Basu does a brilliant job. He
provides the necessary emotional and professional support to Sucheta Dalal.
Speaking of Sucheta Dalal, actress Shreya Dhanwanthary
essays her role with utmost perfection. She is flawless, she emotes very well
and has the best written character. The determination with which she pursues
the entire scam is extraordinary portrayed by her. There are many moments when you realize that SHE is the main character and not Harshad Mehta.
And finally, let us talk about the Mehta brothers.
Hemant Kher as Ashwin is excellent. I had initially thought while watching the
first 2 episodes that he might back out at some point due to contradictory
views with his brother. However, he remains with him till the end. He praises
him when needed, scolds and reprimands him when needed, but never leaves his
brother. Very rarely is the chemistry between two siblings done so well. Even after
so much happens in their lives, we see both the couples sitting together
watching TV – that itself speaks so much of family values.
After the release of this series, I have read at
multiple places that a star named Pratik Gandhi is born. For us Gujaratis, the
star was born 6 years back; he was named "TINO". After that, he has
acted in many Gujarati films, always giving mature and grounded performances. For
me, his performance in "Dhunki" was his best. Until "THE SCAM"
released.
Pratik Gandhi has always been the Rahul Dravid of our
Gujarati film industry – always dependable, always delivering. Watching Pratik essay the lead role
in such a big series feels like a personal victory; as if this was long due. And
the outcome is no less than magical. Pratik essays the role of a lifetime –his
body language, the gradual change in his demeanour as he grows, his attitude of
never quitting and always striving for more, his way of addressing everyone as
"LALA", the way he insisted on perfection practising golf till late
night – Pratik literally lives the character of Harshad Mehta. It is difficult
to find flaws in such a perfect performance. Despite going through rough
patches on and off, he always emerges a winner and stronger than before.
And then the
depiction of "How the mighty fall!" in the 10th episode is
done so wonderfully by Pratik. We feel for him. When we see his family members
embrace him lying lifeless on the hospital bench, we know that this was
anticipated. A lovely song in the background only alleviates the suffering.
Final verdict
– "KARO KANKU NA" and watch it if you haven't watched it yet. And don't
forget to rate it on IMDB. Let us make sure this series gets the rating it
genuinely deserves.
RATING-
9.5/10
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