Scam 2003 Review: Watch this series to know the story of India’s biggest stamp paper scam and the man behind it
Scam 2003 Web Series Rating: 3 Stars
Just watched Scam 2003 Web Series on Sony LIV. So, let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Gagan Dev Riar, Shashank Ketkar, Hemang Vyas, Nandu Madhav, Bharat Jadhav and Sameer Dharmadhikari
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Release Date: 1st September 2023 on Sony LIV
Duration: 5 Episodes/ 45 Minutes
Story: This series is inspired from Sanjay Singh’s Telgi Scam: Reporter’s ki Diary. It is the second installment in Scam franchise followed by Scam 1992.
Telgi’s (Gagan Dev Riar) story begins with his infamous narco-analysis test and runs into a flashback, as he reveals his journey from a small-town hustler in Khanapur in Karnataka. He is an ambitious and an educated man, who wants to make it big in life but circumstances don’t allow him to prosper. He sells fruits for a living on long-distance trains and one day he bumps into Shaukat (Talat Aziz) while the latter is on his way to Bombay. Impressed by Abdul’s skills, he asks him to work with him in Bombay.
Abdul arrives in the city and through his marketing and talking skills, he expands the business of Shaukat’s modest hotel. At his hotel, Abdul comes across Nafisa (Sana Amin Sheikh). Both fall in love and get married. They have a daughter, Zia. Later he moves to the Gulf with an intention to make more money. However, a few years later destiny brings him back to the country and this time he returns with an aim to not earn money, but to mint it. He starts a business where he makes fake documents to help poor people travel to Gulf countries. Abdul gets arrested, and in jail, he comes across Kaushal Jhaveri (Hemang Vyas).
Both start an illegal business, and one day, Abdul Telgi realizes that the stamp paper business is more valuable than anything else. Abdul convinces Kaushal to commence the fake stamp paper business, and the former comes up with a solid plan. While everything is going well, Abdul Telgi lands in an issue that affects his business. What did Abdul do next? How did he manage to carry out such a big scam?
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Story
3. Direction
4. Background Music
5. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Length
2. Screenplay
3. Only Five episodes
4. Climax
5. Slow & Repetitive
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this web-series, planned to watch this series in my free time as trailer looks gripping and liked the 1st part of this series.
Born in Khanapur in Karnataka, Telgi became the mastermind behind one of the most ingenious schemes of 2003 stamp paper counterfeiting scandal worth of INR 30,000 crores that spread across multiple states and shook the entire country.
The makers deserve special appreciation for bringing into light one of the biggest scams in the country. Though this is a massive scam in terms of monetary value, not many are aware of it, and the show neatly showcases how a fraud of this size was carried out in a detailed manner. The show has a good message to the audience, which is about greed, and this has been convincingly shown through Hemang’s role. The team did extensive research on the scam. Abdul Telgi’s journey after being sentenced to jail is presented superbly. Especially the portions related to the Nashik printing press came out quite well and intrigues the viewers. Gagan Dev Riar gave a spectacular performance, and he brought life to Telgi’s character. What catches our attention is the way Gagan Dev portrayed the Abdul Telgi character in a natural manner. The show meticulously uncovers the key events in Telgi’s life while slowly unraveling the mystery behind the stamp paper scam. The source material for this show has been in the news for decades. However, despite its scale, we have never seen a dedicated show or a film on the stamp paper scam. The electrifying music sets the right tone for each episode to unfold. Just like the previous Scam series, Hansal Mehta leaves his unique stamp on this one as well, taking his scam legacy forward. The remaining five will reportedly release in November. With all the high points of Telgi’s career already covered in this tranche of the series, Scam 2003 Part 2 will most probably, focus largely on the downfall of Abdul Karim Telgi.
On the flipside, the pacing is slow for the most part, and especially the initial couple of episodes could have been way better. While the subject is interesting, the screenplay should have been watertight. While the makers retained the Scam 1992’s title theme, the show could have been a lot better regarding emotions. The family angle of Telgi isn’t explored well, and there are hardly any scenes that establish his attachment to his family. The cliffhanger at the end of the fifth episode is a weak narrative point to stop, as it does not really seem like an impossible or a hard hurdle for Abdul Karim Telgi to overcome in volume 2. The biggest issue is that only 5 out of 10 episodes have been released for now. A huge section of viewers are bound to object to this decision as like Scam 1992, one would have loved to see the whole series in one go.
Overall, series is sincere approach to bring alive the world of Telgi with this crime drama and makers succeed somehow. It is entertaining and captivating and works thanks to the award-winning performance of Gagan Dev Riar, catchy background music and some well-written and well-executed scenes Watch this one for sure, since some moments are truly worth it. My view on this web-series is Recommended.
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