Actor Paresh Ganatra is renowned for his performances in Bollywood movies like No Entry, Rowdy Rathore, and Delhi Belly, amongst others. Recently, the actor revealed losing Rs 75,000 of his savings during the Harshad Mehta scam that took place in 1992. This personal experience inspired him to portray the role of Radhakishan Damani in Hansal Mehta’s web series Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story.
Appearing on Digital Commentary’s podcast, Paresh said, “I was working then and my salary was Rs 5,000 per month. I had Rs 75,000 in savings and it was a big amount at that time. I lost it all during Harshad Mehta scam.”
He added, “When I found out about Scam 1992, I insisted that I would play this role despite Hansal Mehta saying it was a small role. It was based on RK Damani who is the owner of D Mart and my personal story made me decide that I would definitely play it.”
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Scam 1992 was adapted from the 1992 book The Scam: Who Won, Who Lost, Who Got Away by journalists Sucheta Dalal and Debashish Basu. The series featured Pratik Gandhi in the lead role as Harshad Mehta, alongside Shreya Dhanwanthary, Satish Kaushik, Anant Mahadevan, Rajat Kapoor, K. K. Raina, Lalit Parimoo, Hemant Kher, and Nikhil Dwivedi, among others.
The series premiered in 2020 on Sony LIV.
Following Scam 1992’s release, the makers announced the second instalment of the franchise titled Scam 2003. The new series was based on the 2003 Stamp Paper Scam done by Abdul Karim Telgi in the early 2000s.
In it, Gagan Dev Riar played the role of Abdul Karim Telgi alongside Mukesh Tiwari, Sana Amin Sheikh, Bharat Jadhav and Shaad Randhawa. It was released in 2023.
