EXCLUSIVE: Gagan Dev Riar on comparisons with Pratik Gandhi’s act in Scam 1992, “Harshad Mehta was way different than Abdul Karim Telgi” 1992 : Bollywood News

Sony LIV’s Scam 2003 recently hit the small screens. Directed by Tushar Hiranandani and created by Hansal Mehta, the show looks at the life of the scamster Abdul Karim Telgi, who was known for his infamous stamp paper scam.

EXCLUSIVE: Gagan Dev Riar on comparisons with Pratik Gandhi’s act in Scam 1992, “Harshad Mehta was way different than Abdul Karim Telgi”

The show has become a turning point in the career of Gagan Dev Riar, who has played Telgi with perfection. The actor is enjoying the accolades for his act right now. Scam 2003 is the second part in Applause Entertainment’s Scam series with the first one being Scam 1992. That show saw Pratik Gandhi give a superlative performance as Harshad Mehta.

Hence, it is natural for the audience to expect Gagan give an act of the same level as Pratik. But in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, Gagan said that the makers ensured that he didn’t get bogged down by the weight of expectations.

“I will give the credit for this to Hansal sir and Tushar sir because they had told me at the start itself that I shouldn’t take any pressure on how this should be performed. They said if I start thinking that I wish to do this in a certain way, it will become self-indulgent. So, I performed the character as much as I understood him (Telgi),” said Gagan.

The fact that Telgi and Harshad Mehta are different characters also played in Gagan’s favour. “The character of Harshad Mehta is way different than Abdul Karim Telgi,” said Gagan. “And their (respective) crimes are also different. One did a white-collar crime while the other person’s crime was quite rooted. So, Hansal sir had taken out the comparison part out of my mind right at the start. He asked me to forget everything and just play the character with all honesty and not take any pressure.”

Five episodes of Scam 2003 were released last week. The rest of the episodes of the season would be released in November.

Also Read: Web Series Review: Scam 2003 – The Telgi Story Season 1