Television series
Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story
A ten-part Indian crime drama about the rise and catastrophic fall of Harshad Mehta, the charismatic stockbroker who engineered India's biggest financial scam in the 1990s. Propulsive and darkly funny, it watches a man's hunger outpace his intelligence as the system that enabled him turns against him. For anyone who loved the architecture of ambition and ruin.
If you liked this
The Wolf of Wall Street2013
Scorsese's portrait of unfettered greed and the seductive machinery of financial fraud. Like Harshad, DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort is magnetic and doomed, riding a wave of excess until gravity remembers him.
But Three and a half hours of cocaine, misogyny and spectacle. It's revelling in the thing it condemns, which won't sit right with everyone.
Succession2018
HBO's masterpiece about power, money and the men who mistake themselves for titans. Same DNA as Scam 1992: watching brilliant people sabotage everything they touch because they cannot stop.
But Deeply cynical, glacially paced in places, and deeply uninterested in redemption. The Roys are monsters you grow to love, which takes patience.
The Big Short2015
McKay's film about the 2008 financial collapse has the same electrical pace and gallows humour as Scam 1992. It makes economic crime visceral and personal, and it's livid about it.
But Deliberately chaotic editing and a narrator who speaks directly to you can feel gimmicky. It shows off, and some viewers find that distracting.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!2008
Same writer-director sensibility about ambitious men in urban India who are too clever for their own good. Both find the seduction and the ruin equally entertaining.
Dibakar Banerjee's darkly comic heist film about a thief in Delhi, told with exactly Scam 1992's blend of morality-free charm and catastrophe. It's set in urban India, watches a man's appetites destroy him, and finds him funny while it does.
But A 2008 Indian film with a much smaller footprint. It's quirky and indie in a way that can feel slight compared to the industrial production of the series.
More like this (6)
Margin Call2011
A tense, intelligent thriller compressed into a single night at an investment bank. Like Scam 1992, it understands that financial crime is often just business operating at full speed.
But Almost entirely dialogue in glass offices. If you need action or movement, this will feel claustrophobic and slow.
The Morning Show2019
Apple's drama about a network in crisis and the exposé that triggers it. Echoes Scam's fascination with how systems protect their architects until they can't anymore.
But Uneven in quality, sometimes soapy when it should be sharp. The supporting cast and storylines dilute the core investigation.
Corporate2018
Indian series about a massive pharmaceutical scandal and the cost of whistleblowing. Same world as Scam 1992, same cultural moment, equally gripping if less slick.
But Lower budget and smaller scope. It won't have the propulsive momentum of Harshad Mehta's story, which is genuinely exceptional.
A Prophet2009
French film about a young man's education in prison as he moves from victim to architect of power. Like Harshad, it's a character study of ambition, compromise and the corruption that success requires.
But Deliberately paced, in French with subtitles, and bleak. If you watched Scam 1992 for speed and narrative momentum, this will feel deliberate and distant.
Godfather of Harlem2019
Cinemax series about Bumpy Johnson's rise in 1960s Harlem. Same addictive rise-and-fall structure, same seductive portrait of a man who becomes untouchable until he isn't.
But It's a biopic about a drug kingpin, which means violence and criminality are treated as romance. If that register bothers you, this will too.
Barbarians at the Gate1993
Both are about how financial systems reward sociopathy until a single person (here, the narrator) decides to look closely. Exact same DNA, different continents and eras.
HBO's 1993 film about the LBO of RJR Nabisco—a financial orgy of greed, insider trading and a battle between titans. It has Scam 1992's structure but is older, American, and operates in a register of controlled rage rather than momentum.
But A nineties HBO TV-movie aesthetic. Made for television, it moves and looks differently than a cinema film or prestige series. Some will find it dated and laborious.
