NEW DELHI: Applause Entertainment, the content production house owned by Aditya Birla revealed Scam 2003, a sequel to its successful crime drama on SonyLIV, Scam 1992- The Harshad Mehta Story, has said that theatre artiste Gagan Dev Riar will be the leading man in the new series.
Based on the book penned by former Times of India journalist Sucheta Dalal and her husband Debashis Basu, ‘Scam 1992-The Harshad Mehta Story’, narrates the meteoric rise and the inadvertent fall from grace of the controversial stockbroker Harshad Mehta – the person who became the face of India’s 1992 stock market scam worth 5,000 crore rupees that rocked the State.
The fact that it’s a true story that has captured the country’s collective imagination makes for a binge-watch. The Scam 1992- The Harshad Mehta Story received appreciation for the performances of the cast members, writing, and also the major technical aspects. It became the foremost viewed web series on the streaming platform.
The second season of the franchise draws attention to the story of the 2003 stamp paper scam by Abdul Karim Telgi. The new series will be based on the Hindi book ‘Reporter ki Diary’ by journalist Sanjay Singh, who is credited with breaking the story of the scam back in the time.
The series will be helmed by Hansal Mehta, also the director of the primary installment, and Tushar Hiranandani. Marathi screenwriter Kiran Yadnyopavit has been roped in to jot down and develop the story together with Singh. Telgi, born in Khanapur in Karnataka, is known as the mastermind behind one of India’s most ingenious scams spread across multiple states whose value was estimated at around ₹20,000 crores.
To be sure, while most OTT platforms are investing in long-form series that span multiple seasons, like Sacred Games, Mirzapur, Four More Shots Please!, Aarya, and so on, few are building franchises around an issue across different stories. While Amazon Prime Video brought out the crime thriller Breathe, Disney+ Hostar has Criminal Justice.
According to media consulting company Ormax, Scam 1992 ranks as the most-liked Indian web show of all time, according to advocacy surveys meted out periodically. Sameer Nair, CEO of Applause Entertainment stated that Scam 1992 laid the foundation for the Scam franchise in which they highlight the people behind various scams in India, their motivation, and also their machinations. He also added that the success of Scam 1992 endorsed their belief about the audience’s interest in such stories.
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