Scam 2003 Review - Superb Dialogues, Strong Performances & Promising Take Off To Yet Another Sca-Mania

Scam 2003 Review: Tushar Hiranandani's Scam 2003 The Telgi Story stars Gagan Dev Riar in the lead role as Abdul Karim Telgi. Based on a true story of the Telgi scam around stamp paper business, the series is hyped by the goodwill of Hansal Mehta's Scam 1992. It's a good thing that the makers have come up with a new story with the brand "Scam" and they are true to it. People are actually interested in watching such stories that have been happening for years in reality, but all we get to see on the big and small screens are fictitious tales that we can hardly relate to. Scam 2003 is indeed very promising, as it delivers enough despite high expectations and the legacy of Mehta's scam story, and I believe it's an achievement in itself. The series is divided into two volumes: Volume 1, which consists of 5 episodes, and Volume 2, which will take the story forward in October 2023. Volume 1 is loaded with superb dialogues, strong performances, an exciting screenplay, and powerful storytelling that give a promising start to yet another solid Sca-Mania!Scam 2003 The Telgi Story is inspired by Abdul Karim Telgi's life, his ambition, his frauds, his connections, and the scamming family he created for himself. The very first scene takes place in a running train in Khanapur, Karnataka, in which Abdul (Gagan Dev Riar) is selling fruits. He is so good at selling and his language is so good that one passenger is impressed, and then he offers him a job in Mumbai. Abdul becomes a receptionist-cum-caretaker of a hotel in Mumbai, and there he falls in love at first sight with Nafisa (Sana Amin Sheikh). Aspiring to make a name for himself, Abdul escalates the business of the hotel and earns enough to marry Nafisa and have children he can take good care of. Needless to say, he wants more. More than money, he wants to be a money-maker, and then he decides to enter the scam world—better say, create the scam world of his own. From stamp making to stamp papers, he goes through many challenges, meets many people, makes friends and enemies, earns loads of money, and, as expected, becomes a victim of his own greed. Now, I can't spoil more than that here.Scam 2003 has a tight screenplay. I think that's its USP too, because there are hardly any series that don't have dragging episodes in the middle. Scam 2003 is engaging and busy from start to end (to be continued, of course). All 5 episodes are 45 minutes or longer, with 3 of them hitting 50 minutes or longer. And guess what? Not a single one of them is weak. The dialogue keeps your hands busy, as you have to clap for them very often. The characters are written beautifully, even though they are what we call ugly characters, but that's their magic, no? One can like them, if not take inspiration from them. They are bad people, but they are good in their own world. You just have to believe in that slimy world for a while. The story unfolds very nicely because the script is written with conviction. It's too early to say, but Scam 2003 might just go down in 2023 history as the best screenplay by a margin.Gagan Dev Riar is a new SENSATION. Pratik Gandhi earned respect and fame with Scam 1992, and I think it's time for Gagan to repeat history with Scam 2003. Whoever is the casting director, we all should be thankful to him for finding these two diamonds for us. What a magnificent accent and brilliant characterization Gagan has shown here. Look at his expressions, at his physical appearance, at that transformation, at that attitude, and at the complete study of his character. Gagan Riar just mastered them all like a pro. The first frame of Sana Amin Sheikh is enough to make you have love at first sight,' just like Abdul. She looks gorgeous and performs well, despite poor characterization by the writer. Sameer Dharmadhikari is good, Shashank Ketkar is impressive, Bhavana Balsavar and Nikhil Ratnaparkhi have a low space, Bharat Jadhav excels in a small gallery, and Bharat Dabholkar's cameo work is fine.Remember that freaking amazing background music from Scam 1992? Prepare yourself to feel it again. The cinematography looked decent, while the production design was very well executed. The series is nicely edited (that's for 5 episodes of Volume 1), as you get no moment of your own to come back to 2023 from the 1990s. A few flaws like fictional names of places (Wadi Bunder Station—it was a depot in my knowledge), that bar girl's conflict (what to say when we know it was real), and a slight overdose of political and business tricks can be forgiven if asked politely. Obviously, every writer and director is entitled to fictional liberty, so even that's not a big issue here. The biggest disappointment of Scam 2003 is that it ends at halfway. At the end of the 5th episode, you will be like, "Why the hell didn't they release the next episodes along with it?" Tushar Hiranandani should be blamed for that. That taunt is a big compliment for him, and he deserves it. If the next 5 episodes can match the first 5 episodes, then I don't see why Scam 2003 can't be hailed as the best series of 2023 as well as the best sequel (a stand-alone brand sequel, to be precise) in the Indian webseries world. Tushar has done a brilliant job of keeping the entire narrative together. He brought the best out of his actors and the technical team too. Overall, Scam 2003 is a good watch for those who love some Kick-A dialogues, amazing performances, a brilliant screenplay and storyline, and fine direction. The only problem with Scam 2003 is that it doesn't glorify any glorious personality that can inspire you to become a good and successful person in life. Even that's forgiven since we know not everyone can be Lata Mangeshkar, Mahavir Phogat, Milka Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, or Major Dhyanchand. Abdul was never a legend; he was a bad person, so just enjoy a gripping tale and stay away from Abdul's wrongdoings in your real life.