Talat Aziz talks about being part of Scam 2003, his scenes being cut from Hansal Mehta’s show

Director Hansal Mehta’s Scam 2003: The Telgi Story impressed the masses and was considered a valuable addition to the Scam series. The crime drama stars Gagan Dev Riar as Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind behind the Rs 30,000 crore stamp paper fraud. Scam 2003 is the second installment after Pratik Gandhi-starrer Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020).

Apart from Gagan, Sana Amin Sheikh, Bhavana Balsawar, Sameer Dharmadhikari and Talat Aziz were praised for showcasing their impressive acting skills in the show. DNA India reached out to veteran singer and actor Talat Aziz for an exclusive interaction, and the artist spoke about his experience working with this talented team.

In the first part of a 5-episode series, Talat plays Shaukat, the father of Nafisa (Sana). During the conversation, Talat revealed that his character’s graph was largely changed and a few dramatic and confrontational moments were removed to keep the series focused on Abdul Karim Telgi.

In the series, Abdul and Nafisa’s love story was limited to background narration. However, there is a huge confrontation scene between Shaukat and Nafisa, where the latter tries to convince her father to accept Abdul as her son-in-law. “Shuakat is the person who brings Abdul to Bombay, he gives him a job in his guest house. However, he feels that Abdul has another side to his personality, and so when Nafisa talks about my character about the nikah , there is a huge confrontation between them. Talat further claimed, “Many scenes of my character were changed and Shaukat’s relationship with his daughter was not shown, because they wanted to tell the story of Abdul.” Talat further added that there were some dramatic moments of his character with Abdul and Nafisa, but they did not make it to the final cut.

Although Talat’s character was largely edited out, he is happy with the series and the reception he received for his role. “Hansal, Tushar (Hiranandani, director) and Gagan have all done a great job. The hard work and vision shows on screen. I have no regrets about the length of the role. I have received calls from everywhere., praising my performance and suggesting that I should do more films and series. Many fans want me to be in front of the camera because they feel that I have a lot to give.

This year, Talat was also seen in Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Gulmohar. The veteran artist is ready to explore his acting career, but he has only one condition: he wants to play important roles. In upcoming projects, Talat will be seen in Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor and Deepika Padukone-starrer Fighter. Scam 2003 is currently streaming on Sony Liv.