Web Series: Scam 2003: The Telgi Story
Cast: Gagan Dev Riar (add more names)
Directed by: Tushar Hiranandani
Showrunner: Hansal Mehta
Episodes: 5 (Part 1)
OTT: Sony Liv
Rating: 3 moons

Scam 2003: The Telgi story opens with a smashing title track from the Scam franchise. The first part, consisting of five episodes, opens with Abdul Karim Telgi (Gagan Dev Riar) as a fruit vendor who has a knack of 'selling'. With dreams in his eyes, he lands in Mumbai (then Bombay), works in the guesthouse of a man who has offered him a job on the train, marries his daughter and soon after moves to the Gulf because he is a 'family man' who wants to provide a better life to his wife and kid. Years later, he returns to the city of dreams because he believes 'paisa kamaya nahi banaya jata hai'. 

Based on Sanjay Singh’s book ‘Telgi Scam : Reporter’s Ki Diary’, directed by Tushar Hiranandani, and show-run by Hansal Mehta, Abdul is a man who come from nothing but with his 'jugaado' approach aims to convert his rags to riches story because life main 'daring toh karna padega darling.’ This leads him to become the mastermind behind the Rs 30,00,000 crore stamp paper scam, albeit, the story isn't as direct. 

The makers have picked 'heera' in terms of Gagan as Telgi who perfects the body language and facial expression of a common man. He is so average that he steals every scene and narrative with his unassuming character portrayal. Gagan's comparison with Pratik Gandhi (as Harshad Mehta in Scam 1992) is unavoidable, but one needs to keep in mind that selling stocks as Harshad did, that too in an entertaining manner, in a show helmed by Hansal himself, opposing to stamp duty papers, is rather a lackluster game. Gagan is the star of a show which needs to pick up pace in its remaining five episodes. 

Cinematographer Stanley Mudda’s along with production designer Madhusudan N’s recreate the 90s/early 2000s era with slick details.  Casting director Mukesh Chhabra, who also has a cameo in the show, has done a fine job in picking noteworthy performers such as Bhavana Balsavar, Bharat Jadhav, Shashank Ketkar, Sameer Dharmadhikari and more, who do their job diligently on screen. 

What doesn't work is the pace of the show. In the wake of exploring Telgi's life, layer by layer, the premise of a crime-thriller takes a hit. However with the remaining five episodes yet to release, in November 2023, there is a hope that the show will be more crisp in its Part II.

There is massive potential for Telgi to explode, but will it surpass the Scam 1992 charm, guess we all have to wait and watch as Telgi is, in the show, waiting to see his life turn upside down!