Scam 2003: The Telgi Story | The onscreen Telgi couple, Gagan Dev Riar & Sana Amin Sheikh, on preparing for their roles

A still from Scam 2003: The Telgi Story.

After the incredible success of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, which followed stockbroker Harshad Mehta’s dealings in a massive stock market scam, Hansal Mehta’s next in the series spotlights the stamp duty paper counterfeiting racket committed by Abdul Karim Telgi. Mehta is the showrunner of Scam 2003: The Telgi Story (now streaming on SonyLIV) which he co-directs along with Tushar Hiranandani. Gagan Dev Riar who has numerous theatre credits and has appeared in the series A Suitable Boy, plays the lead role of Telgi whose scam was estimated to be around Rs 300 billion. Telgi was later imprisoned and died of multiple ailments. In the crime drama, Sana Amin Sheikh, known for her television shows, including Bhutu and Kya Mast Hai Life, plays Telgi’s wife Nafisa.

Both the actors spoke about how they got the parts and what preparation went into playing real-life characters:

Gagan Dev Riar: Abdul Karim Telgi

Gagan Dev Riar plays the titular role of Abdul Karim Telgi in Scam 2003: The Telgi Story.

The same actor who played Pran Kapoor in Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy is playing Telgi and the bride’s father in Nair’s off-Broadway musical Monsoon Wedding. Tell us about the transformation you had to undergo for this part.

The physical transformation was required for Scam 2003. When Hansal Mehta cast me, he told me I would have to gain weight, so I immediately started the process. It took me around three to four months to get into the shape of Telgi, adding around 19 kg of weight. Interestingly, Pran Kapoor is the reason I got Telgi because Hansal liked my performance in A Suitable Boy. I did have to give an audition which was not successful at first. So, I took some time to redo the audition and that second time the casting director’s assistant forwarded the scene immediately to Mukesh Chhabra. As I was walking out of his office, Mukesh was coming in. He rolled down his car window, showed me a thumbs up and said, ‘Done, done, done. It's very good.’ I was happy. And within a few more minutes, as I was walking back home after buying some groceries, I got a call from Hansal sir. He said, it's a beautiful audition and you are doing the role.

Weight gain is one aspect of preparing for the role. Was there any other preparation you undertook to play this real-life character?

Definitely, but the preparation was not about speaking or behaving like the real Telgi, because there was very little information available on the internet. Instead, I took the help of the directors to try and mix and match various techniques. For instance, I went to Khanapur, where he was from, to see how the locals speak, to study their tonality of the language. I recorded interviews and tried to create the dialogues for Telgi in that tone. I looked at a lot of pictures online and stitched his mannerisms together to make a walk and body language. Obviously, the weight added to the entire framework. But Hansal also told me very clearly that I didn't have to behave or act like Telgi because he didn't want Telgi to be a caricature. He wanted it to be organic. So instead of you becoming Telgi, he said why don't you put Telgi in Gagan. So, the idea came more from Gagan than Gagan trying to become Telgi.

The characters would travel a journey in the show, going through ages and stages of life, until he became this con man. What was it like going through the arc of this character?

The shooting schedule was not linear so I had to gain weight and then I had to keep maintaining that throughout my shoot. We tried to camouflage things with the type of clothing or hairstyle and makeup. I kept certain scenes and timelines in my mind so if I was doing scenes of the older Telgi when he was diagnosed with HIV and when he was weaker, I would eat less that day or do some other things for one or two days to just look a little unwell. These things were done on a minor level, because there was no time to do it any other way. But we did try our best to create differences in the body language, in the way he sits or talks, to match the age. Also, I was amazed by the brain Telgi had. I also approached the character from the point of view of how skilled he was, his thinking, how he plans things. The sad aspect was that this brain was not used for a greater purpose, but used for something like this scam, which still affects people on some level.

A series about a criminal cannot just be black or white. How did the shades of grey come into Scam 2003?

The Scam series is like that. In Scam 1992, you see how Harshad Mehta did the scam, how he used the system’s loopholes to create what he created. But you also see what happened to his family and loved ones. So, I think the Scam series talks about the two aspects: the criminal part and the family, the human part. That has been maintained in Scam 2003, too.

Sana Amin Sheikh: Nafisa Telgi

Sana Amin Sheikh plays the role of Nafisa Telgi, Abdul Karim Telgi's wife, in Scam 2003: The Telgi Story.

Having done television, been a radio host and appeared in a few films, what did this role mean to you?

This is the biggest (role) that I've cracked till date. It was phenomenal for me to be a part of a web show that has made its mark. Building on the success Scam 1992 and carrying it forward with Scam 2003, with a new story, a fresh cast and directors Tushar Hiranandani and Hansal Mehta was amazing. I feel my wait has been worth it.

What was the brief you were given before your audition?

I was told they are casting the wife’s part, but this is not a regular protagonist wife’s part. It has different layers, and there would be scope for performance. I had tested for various shows, films, small parts, big parts, lead parts. I was doing television constantly, and continuing to audition for other platforms. I thought, this is just another audition, but I'm not going to let go of this as well. The same day that I got the call, I did my lines. I didn't do my make-up or hair or even change my clothes. I was casual. I immediately recorded the audition and sent it to Mukesh Chhabra’s office. This was July and around October I got a call saying that my audition had been liked. I waited and then in November they confirmed that I was Nafisa. I was overwhelmed.

In a show that is principally about the male protagonist, how is the role distinctive?

Yes, it is Telgi’s story and it is about a scam but also how we started off and the entire journey. But in this particular series, you are also going to see the layer of his personal life in which Nafisa plays a primary part. You might want to hate him, you might get irritated with what he's doing, you will not like the person. But then I think whenever you see the person with his family, in his personal life, it gives it a different shade and if that touches the audience's emotions then nothing like it. If that is achieved it will also be a result of Gagan’s and my chemistry.

What was the most interesting aspect of playing this character?

As an actor, this journey is something which I've never explored, from a girl in her early 20s to say her mid-50s or something. I've changed my voice modulation to show her maturing gradually, from being a sweet girl to a young wife to a little older wife and mother. Bonding with the girls playing my daughter. Also, if I learned something, then I was unlearning it on purpose so that it doesn't look coached when I'm performing. Subconsciously you register this and it can hold you back. Also, Nafisa is a middle-class Muslim woman, and the kinds of clothes she wears, the way she drapes her dupatta are familiar to me. My mother and grandmother wore similar kinds of clothes. I worked on how her walk would change after child birth. So, yes, I've worked on a lot of things, there are nuances, which were worth it.