The Telgi Story’ – Deadline

Indian streamer SonyLIV and Applause Entertainment are returning to the underworld of fraud. The pair are working on Scam 2003: The Telgi Story and cast Gagan Dev Riar to play the lead.

The second season of the franchise is a follow up to the lauded Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, which transported star Pratik Gandhi — who is set to star at Mahatma Gandhi in an upcoming Applause-produced drama series — into the Indian A-list.

Scam 2003 will see veteran theater artist Dev Riar play Abdul Karim Telgi, a fruit seller who built a criminal empire by counterfeiting stamp papers.

Born in Khanapur in Karnataka, Telgi became the mastermind behind one of the most ingenious schemes in Indian history that spread across multiple states and shook the entire country.

The series will be adapted from the Hindi-language book Reporter Ki Diary from journalist Sanjay Singh,  who broke the story in the early 2000s. Hansal Mehta and Tushar Hiranandani are directing, with casting by the legendary Mukesh Chhabra.

Applause is producing in association with StudioNEXT, with the show currently filming. It will stream on SonyLIV.