Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story- Review

There is nothing more alluring than a cocktail of money, ambition and power, and Harshad’s story has it all.

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story offers us a modern anti-hero story. Harshad is never portrayed as a criminal in the web show, he is instead a crooked man who used loopholes in an archaic system to his benefit. Neither did he create the loopholes, nor was he the only one using them, but eventually the system won.

Perhaps the heaviest part of this 10-episode series is Harshad’s rise to power. Starting as a jobber – the lowest rung in the food chain – he sees stupendous growth with his head for business and readiness to bilk the system. Along with his brother Ashwin (Hemant Kher) and trusted aide Bhushan (Chirag Vohra), he takes on the established system and the expletive-spouting bear trader (Satish Kaushik). A huckster, Harshad is soon reigning in the bourse and now has his eye on the bigger prize – securities markets. This is where he meets his real detractors with a chip on their shoulders, led by Citibank’s India head Thiagarajan (Nikhil Dwivedi). Refusing to let this rank outsider muscle his way onto their turf, a complex war breaks out between the two sides.

Having amassed a big fortune and with a direct line to Delhi through a self-styled godman, Harshad is buying into his own myth by now. Just like the millions who bought into this dream, Harshad starts taking too many risks, giving his detractors the chance they were looking for. Scam 1992 is a series that is not afraid to take names and point fingers. It gives a window into the tumultuous years in India’s history, getting the setting and nods to major events spot-on.

A fantastic performance from Pratik Gandhi surely helps. “My biggest crime is that I am Harshad Mehta,” he says even when the chips are down and the central agencies are on his scent. A skilled ensemble cast adds depth to Scam 1992 and it was a pleasure to watch so many faces that populated the screen in the 90s once again.