Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story Analysis

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020)

Directed by: Hansal Mehta

Starring: Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Dhanwanthary

Streaming on Sony LIV.

This is one of most riveting series I've seen in a long time. The show is set in the 80-90s and it authentically portrays the world of trading, and the stock markets. Stock markets is a world of ambition, success, greed, failure and it's a place which tests your mental strength everyday, especially in day trading. It's a place to go to, for self exploration. You'll definitely understand your strengths, and weaknesses.

Harshad Mehta is inspiring - not because he went against the system - that even a person jumping a signal, does. He is inspiring because he did the unthinkable, unimaginable and the way he capitalised on every opportunity he got. Of course, he got carried away by the money, the adrenaline and the power and he risked everything at a lot of points - but I'm sure he'd be a great trader and probably one of the wealthiest people in the world, if he was alive today. 

Pratik Gandhi was so good as Harshad, the way he carries the angst, in a subtle way throughout the later part of the show - that depicts the character's mental strength. The lingo is so authentic (I can say that with my trading experience) - 'market paisa kha gaya' and phrases like that are very commonly used in the pit, of course along with a lot of creative profanity.

Sucheta Dalal - she tries to bring order in the system. My understanding of crime and punishment isn't so deep, but I was wondering if bringing order in this scenario did well or harm in the larger scheme of things. I think it's the same case as the vigilante hero, where in spite of breaking rules - their intentions aren't malicious. Although in this case, it's a little dicey because there is a lot of self interest involved - profit for himself (apart from the booming of the market). Also he's trading with people's money without their consent, and a trader like Harshad (with such insane risk taking abilities) could have lost a lot of money.

The way they balance perspectives of both Harshad and Sucheta is interesting - because at times we're rooting for Sucheta to find some information, because of the amount of work she puts and when she finds out some news - we feel good as well. With Harshad, empathy is created purely because of the underdog - rags to riches angle. The show never shies away from using trading jargon, and at times even when you don't exactly understand what they're referring to - we only get more curious (as opposed to feeling small and eventually losing interest).

We see a lot of tube lights in the frame, this contributes to the lighting as well as to get the vibe of the 90s. The show has the tonality of a docu-series and this is so tough to achieve when you're recreating everything and without using real footage, which is why the intercutting in the ending just blew my mind.