The Central Vigilance Commission, which is the apex anti-corruption body of India, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology recently observed ‘Fortnight of Vigilance’ from 27th October to 10th November 2020. As a part of this initiative, government organizations and banks conducted several activities and contests such as poster making, essay and slogan writing, quizzes, and webinars on the theme ‘Vigilant India, Prosperous India’ to create awareness and eliminate corruption. Employees, family, students, and the general public participated in the same. Several employees also took the Integrity pledge on this occasion. The following web series highlight the importance of such initiatives while also explicating the need for more policies and actions.
Scams and other infamous incidents have often created enough buzz and held enough significance for them to be adapted for the silver screen. OTT platforms are keeping up the tradition. Whether it is feature films based on real events, documentaries, or series, they have got it all. The most recent additions to the list are Netflix’s Docuseries Bad Boy Billionaires: India (2020) and SonyLiv’s Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020), hitting smart screens one after the other. Originally a four-part series, Bad Boy Billionaires — BBB henceforth — following a legal battle, released on the streaming giant’s platform on 5th October 2020, withholding one episode on Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computers. The episodes titled ‘The King of Good Times’ directed by Dylan Mohan Gray, ‘Diamonds Aren’t Forever’ by Johanna Hamilton and ‘The World’s Biggest Family’ by Nick Read, about liquor baron Vijay Mallya, jeweller Nirav Modi and ‘Sahara shri’ Subrata Roy respectively are streaming now. 10-episode long Hansal Mehta directorial Scam 1992, chronicling the life of the eponymous Mumbai-based stock broker portrayed by Pratik Gandhi dropped online on 9th October 2020.
While BBB is a docuseries, a compilation of archive footage and interviews, the latter is an adaptation of Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu’s book The Scam: Who Won, Who Lost, Who Got Away (1993) and has been fictionalized a little for an enhanced cinematic experience. Actors Shreya Dhanwanthary and Faisal Rashid play the journalists on-screen. All 4 stories are based on individuals who experienced steep success, momentary but significant time of fame and a rather public fall from glory. Mallya defaulted bank loans amounting about ₹9,000 Crores and is facing extradition from the United Kingdom. Modi is in London prison also awaiting extradition for fraudulently acquiring loans of around ₹11,000 Crores from the Brady House branch of Punjab National Bank in Mumbai by bribing officers. Roy is currently out on bail after spending a couple of years for deceiving investors through his chit-fund pyramid scheme. Mehta had several cases against him but most famous of all was his involvement in the securities scam that led to the stock market crash in 1992. He died while in custody in 2001, and his family is still continuing their fight against more than a score of cases. A feature film ‘The Big Bull’- as Mehta was popularly referred to, in addition to ‘Stock market ka Amitabh Bachchan’-is expected to release soon as well starring Abhishek Bachchan in the titular role.
These shows trace an identical arc, that of rise, soaring fame, and ruin. They are also stories of people who dared to dream. About the risk-takers- analogous to the rather repetitive one-liner from Mehta’s series “Risk hai to Ishq hai”- whether it is self-made men like Roy and Mehta or men who inherited business and legacies from their families and used their own innovation to excel, as is the case with Mallya and Modi. Another common characteristic among the four is their flamboyance. They did not shy away from displaying their luxurious lives, which some believe led to their fall. Each of them was an Icarus in their own ways and paid the price for their hubris. Some of the friends, business partners and employees interviewed for the docuseries tend to add an element of empathy for the businessmen, but inputs from journalists counterbalance the same. Undeniably the shows provide a space for the perspective of the individuals, more so in the stockbroker’s story, but do not play devil’s advocate. It is the inadequacies of the system which facilitate such scams that is the main takeaway of the shows. Scam 1992 does a good job of acquainting and educating viewers about stock market and banking jargons while not taking a patronizing tone. The series itself is of importance as it brings to the young audience- who were too young or not yet born- an almost two-decade old scam about which they had little or no knowledge. BBB on the other hand takes up quite recent scams, ones that have received, and still do, ample media coverage and are pretty fresh in people’s minds. As a result, the docuseries does not seem to have garnered the impact and buzz Scam 1992 has. Nevertheless, its narrative structure has been upheld by many and appreciated for the consolidation of facts.
More such adaptations and documentaries should be welcome as it is one of the best ways to reach the masses. Having said that, how egalitarian the reach is, needs debating. A considerable population of the country cannot afford to spend on entertainment such as OTT subscription fees. One must also remember that these men are the ones who were unfortunate enough to get caught and face consequences if not punishment. However, they are definitely not the only scamsters. While the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) crash revealed several banking system loopholes and led to the establishment of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 1992 and the introduction of other regulations, the docuseries has only proved that the system needs more mending. India is perpetually one step away from the next big scandal.
Excellently analysed and articulated.