Rahul Desai
Rags-to-Riches
A spiritual successor of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) but a tonal descendent of Farzi (2023), Scam 2003: The Telgi Story expands the cultural language of the Indian financial thriller.
We know the drill. The small-town entry in the 1980s: Young Telgi impresses a passenger with his silver-tongued, fruit-selling skills on a train. The filmy ambition: He vows to make it big in Bombay.
there are some chinks in the show’s armour (so far). For starters, there’s no real context to Telgi’s hunger. He’s already a story by the time we meet him.
A lot of screen-time involves Telgi explaining his intricate ideas to co-conspirators. But where do his plans come from? How does he know so much? Why do the others not know anything?
Riar keeps us hooked and waiting for the future, one in which Telgi is destined to pay the price for ‘daring’ too hard. After all, the descent is the toughest part.