Let’s get the cat out of the bag! With the already existing array of films and shows on varied kinds of cons, do we need another brief reminder of the fraudulent history where commoners were duped and rich who exploited them to get richer? Hell, yes! Not only does it make for a good watch (apart from the series on serial killers), it also serves as a reality check for introspection and information exchange. Enters discovery+ and their new show Money Mafia that promises to detangle the dark world of white-collar crimes. From the Telgi Scam to The Mehul Choksi fiasco, the show will consist of 8 episodes spread across two seasons which investigate scams in various segments like Revenue and Law, Tax and Finance, Cyber Frauds and The Stock Market. I watched the first episode titled Fake Stamp Paper: The King of Cons about Abdul Karim Telgi, as part of the screener and here’s what I thought it’s another Bad Boy Billionaires without the whataboutery and traces of drama.
The first episode manages to break down the greed and fraud of Abdul Karim Telgi. Tracing back his roots to Khanapur in Karnataka and his days of selling fruits on the railway station, the documentary doesn’t waste a lot of time on his formative years and jumps right to the workings of the mastermind and his multi-crore stamp paper scam. With money and the scam running into a massive Rs 20,000 crore and other estimates ranging from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore. How did he do all that? The series, with just a thirty minute time frame, delves right into it in classic documentary style - narrated as anecdotes by a panel including investigative journalist Mandar Parab, whistleblower Jayant Tinaikar, retired DG Police, Karnataka, R. Srikumar who was the chief of the investigating team and even two-time MLA Anil Gote. And all of them revealed that it was Telgi’s involvement with Ratan Soni in jail from when he was first sent behind the bars. However, all of them don’t agree with the story that he used his connections to get the printing machines from the Indian Security Press in Nashik to print fake stamp papers. According to Gote he stole them on their way and mixed them with the real ones and subsequently sold them to influential people including police, politicians and others.
And the thing to note is the panel’s treatment doesn’t change when they speak of his lofty ways and communication skill to run his errands. And I was glad that there was no whataboutery or glorification apart from the few mentions of his business acumen that helped him run an organized crime syndicate even from the prison. That and of course his connections he built with the P’s - police, politicians, press and properties and vowed to never reveal. Until he did! But before he could give away all the names, he died of multiple organ failure in custody after being picked from Ajmer in 2001. But I’m getting way ahead of myself; it was activist Tinaikar who wrote to then President Narayan and tipped the police about Telgi’s visit to the shrine.
Now before we get into the questions, I want to tip my hat to episode director Sajeed A and lead writer Ziko Ray to present the facts in a cohesive manner, keeping one engaged till it was the credits. Even though the episode doesn’t make any revelations, it makes for a riveting watch thanks to the crisp editing and a great background score that fits the narrative like a glove. It will also make you revisit the whole charade and read up about Telgi, his affable personality and the extent of his corruption that took advantage of every loophole in the financial books.
However, it can’t be overlooked that the episode leaves one with a lot of unanswered questions. Be it the way he was introduced to the world of fake stamp papers or the process in which he ran his business and multiple teams for multiple aspects or the way, the storytelling gets hurried at a point. The only emphasis was on the way the cops nab him and even then the re-creation misses out how the scam was exposed prior to that. That’s when it dawns that research lacked in packing the punch that the episode deserved and ideally should have.
But is it worth the watch?
The experiment mostly pays off because of how the subject and material is presented without any biases and without turning the culprit into some kind of a hero. We very well know how Harshad Mehta reaped benefits of the same, even posthumously. Now, no person is just his crime but the show treads the fine line; by showing archival footage of why he pleaded to his crimes after his wife insisted him to but not showing his complete backstory because he is not an example to be followed. It also makes one ponder about the bigger players in the syndicate who were never ousted because of his untimely death. Isn’t that the purpose really?
Money Mafia is now streaming on discovery+.
Cover Image: discovery+
SEE ALSO: After ‘Scam 1992’, Hansal Mehta To Direct ‘Scam 2003’: The Curious Case of Abdul Karim Telgi
