‘The Big Bull’ is mostly forgettable, especially in wake of Hansal Mehta’s web series on same subject 

The release of Kookie Gulati’s The Big Bull was preceded by hype. Not surprising, because it happens to be the second online show based on the life and times of the notorious stockbroker Harshad Mehta, who had minted millions and looked all set for many more. Mehta’s unbridled ambition and greed, as we all know, would lead to his downfall.

A few months ago, Hansal Mehta had helmed a web series on Mehta’s life, Scam 1992, the best original Indian show released in recent times. Gujarati actor Pratik Gandhi had played the stockbroker with effortless composure, ably supported by a talented ensemble cast, while the writing was first-rate.

Comparisons with the Bachchan-led Gulati film were inevitable, and it is pretty clear that the film is a distant second in every department.

Bachchan is sincere, which is expected of him. Some moments remind us of his performance in Guru, but that takes nothing away from the fact that his performance is what generates the few good moments the film has to offer. That apart, The Big Bull is mostly forgettable, unlike the web series that was its exact antithesis.

Bachchan plays Hemant Shah (based on Harshad Mehta), a lower-middle-class man with the desire to make it big. He wants money, lots of money, and stepping into a stockbroker’s shoes seems to be the easiest way to get there.

As the viewer, we know what to expect from the story, especially if one has been staying home and spending free time watching shows on OTT platforms.

It is perhaps Gulati’s misfortune that he ran into a situation in which shortcomings in films have been identified and magnified by the release of a fine web series on the same subject.

That said, none can explain why Meera Rao played by Illeana D’Cruz (based on journalist Sucheta Dalal who follows the Harshad story with her partner Debashish Basu, who is nowhere to be seen) has been portrayed so sketchily. One of the biggest victims of a shabby screenplay is bad characterisation, and Rao as well as others suffer immeasurably.

Telling the Harshad Mehta story in any format was never going to be easy. The stockbroker had exploited the loopholes in the Indian banking system, getting away with it for a long time before his addiction to dubious methods brought him down. No writer could have re-created his complex mindset with partial indifference, which seems to be the case in the film.

Importantly, the viewer had to be familiarised with crucial terms used freely by the banking system and the stock market and their implications explained as simply as possible. The web series, a triumph of good writing, managed to do it. The film fails miserably.

The Big Bull will impress few, whether or not one has watched Pratik Gandhi in the Hansal Mehta show. It is not a failure because of Bachchan either. The outcome of what happens when a subject as complex as Mehta is tackled without due seriousness, it falls flat on its face because a real-life story that shook India needed good writing to become an impressive presentation.

That, the show lacks, which is a pity.