Stock market – Now that’s not the kind of world that is explored regularly in Bollywood. Even in Hollywood there are just a handful of films exploring this market that have been made, most notably The Wolf of Wall Street, Margin Call, Wall Street and The Big Short to name a few. Hence, when something exciting around this subject does come in, it is worthy to be checked out.
The Big Bull
Though it is said to be a fictionalised account, one look at the promo of The Big Bull and it’s quite apparent that the film has been made on the life and times of Harshad Mehta. After all, The Big Bull was his nickname in the market back in the early 90s. The lead actor is Abhishek Bachchan in this Kookie Gulati directed film which would see straight-to-OTT release on Disney + Hotstar. It would be interesting to see how it is told in 2 hours duration.
Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story
This by all means is the most detailed account of the stock market (and the scam) to have come out of the Indian film and web series industry so far. Director Hansal Mehta has put together a nearly 10 hour long web series for Applause Entertainment that chronicles the journey of Harshad Mehta from being the smallest peg to The Big Bull no less. A must watch.
Gafla
Chances are that you may not have heard of Gafla but this is another must watch film which released in 2006 but unfortunately wasn’t seen by anyone in theaters, courtesy zero promotion and miniscule release. Featuring Vinod Sharawat in the lead role, this too was inspired from the life and times of Harshad Mehta who earned from loopholes in the stock market industry.
Baazaar
A couple of years back Saif Ali Khan led the show for Baazaar, another film that was set in the stock market and touched upon topics like money, power, greed and scam. A Nikkhil Advani production, it did reasonable business at the box office. Vinod Mehra’s son Rohan Mehra made his debut as Saif Ali Khan’s protégé in this Gauravv K. Chawla directed dramatic affair.
Guru
Before he started work on The Big Bull, Abhishek Bachchan had already made Guru, a film which was widely speculated to be inspired by the life and times of Dhirubhai Ambani. More than hinting on the stock market, this one was about finding loopholes in the functioning of the money market in the industry and how it could be exploited to the fullest even in a legal manner.
Corporate
When it comes to a scam in the making, how could director Madhur Bhandarkar be behind? In his many movies he has exposed quite a few sectors, most notably the film and the fashion industry. However with Corporate, he ventured into the territory of scams that take place in the corporate world. With Bipasha Basu leading the show, this one did turn out to be exciting.
Shree 420
Three generations and 65 years back, Raj Kapoor was one of the first to have exposed the ponzi scheme with his film Shree 420. This one was again about greed and ego getting the better of a man where he manipulated the market as per his needs. Of course, from being an anti-hero, Raj Kapoor did emerge as a hero after all. The film was lapped up back then in a big way.
Aankhen
Talk about Aankhen and one would end up remembering the antics of Govinda and Chunkey Pandey, especially their pelvic thrusts in ‘Laal Dupatte Waali’. However, are you aware that the core of the film was actually about catching hold of a fugitive (played by Gulshan Grover) who was – believe it or not – inspired by the real life character of Harshad Mehta? Well, that’s life!