Scam 1992 Series Review

In early 1990’s India’s financial system was unregulated. This gave stock brokers an opportunity to bend the rules of stock markets. Due to lack of system controls these activities of stockbrokers went unnoticed, thus leading to financial market scams. One of these scams is the popular Financial Securities Scam or The Harshad Mehta Scam. 

The show Scam 1992 A Harshad Mehta Story based on the book “The Scam: Who Won Who Lost, Who Got Away” by Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu explores the life of Harshad Mehta as a stockbroker. The show is a rags to riches story of Harshad Mehta which chronicles his rise, roar, slip and fall. It shows how Harshad rigged the financial system through collusion with private sector banks and financial institutions. 

Harshad Mehta (Pratik Gandhi) an ordinary salesman from Mumbai starts work as a jobber at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) (also popularly known as Dalal Street) due to lack of market experience. He along with his brother Ashwin (Hemant Kher) and his trusted aide Bhushan (Chirag Vohra) setup their own consulting firm through which they carry out speculative trading on the BSE to counter the bear cartel of Satish Kaushik (Manu Mundra). Harshad slowly and steadily becomes an undisputed and reigning king on the bourse. He is referred to by the name of “Big Bull”. He now has his eyes set on the government securities market which is a difficult market to enter, given Citibank’s domination.   

Will Harshad rule the government securities market in a similar manner to the stock markets? What are the challenges and difficulties awaiting Harshad on his path to glory? Will Harshad’s greed for success cause problems for his family? For all this and more watch the series. 

This 10-part series of 500 minutes is insightful, captivating and intriguing. Direction by Hansal Mehta is slow to start, but gradually gathers pace and becomes riveting. Screenplay is good. Dialogues are well-written and clapworthy like “Risk Hai Toh Ishq Hai” among others. 

Now coming to the cast and their performances. Pratik Gandhi as Harshad is superb and captivating, though he hardly resembles the real Harshad. The ensemble cast of Shreya Dhanwantary, Ananth Mahadevan, KK Raina, Hemant Kher, Anjali Barot, Rajat Kapoor among others add depth to the series with their great performances. 

One of the best series on the OTT platform this year which is not to be missed. In the end it is left for the viewer to decide on Harshad as a criminal or a victim. 

****.5 stars

Now streaming on SonyLIV.