Some spoilers ahead;
Hansal Mehta’s latest release Scoop, based on the book ‘Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison by Jigna Vohra released on Netflix this Friday, and I’m blown by the brilliance of it. This 6-episode long series is curated with utmost honesty and leaves you with many questions.
‘Scoop’, an exclusive piece of a news story is a term journalists often use because who doesn’t want an exclusive story to their name? But to what extent does the media go for that exclusive front-page story? This is what Hansal Mehta’s Scoop is about.
Scoop’s plot centres around Jagruti Pathak, played by Karishma Tanna who is a prolific crime reporter, a single mother and a go-getter who would go above and beyond for her passion for reporting big stories, be it sacrificing family time or putting the whole world aside. She would do it all. She’s made it big, too. Within seven years of her work, she’s in a very respectful position at her office. But then, her life crashes, and time stands still when she’s locked behind bars for the alleged murder of a fellow journalist. Will Jagruti fight her way out of prison? Will she get justice? Harshal Mehta’s Scoop will answer all those questions for you.
Why ‘Scoop’ Is A Brilliant Peek Inside Indian Journalism Of Today
Scoop highlighted how journalists would do anything for an exclusive. When Jagruti was locked inside the prison, she had an epiphany on how she kept saying she was the innocent one and had nothing to do with the murder of her colleague, but she’s guilty of one crime, and that is the murder of journalism.
Jagruti tells her fellow inmate how she was too carried away by her ‘ambition’ and would do anything for a newspaper’s front page and an exclusive story to her name. She told the inmate how she wouldn’t ever have had this realisation until she was the Scoop everyone was chasing. She was on the front page being made a mockery of, for eye-grabbing headlines.
Jagruti didn’t realise how ‘scoop’ was about real people with real emotions until she was the Scoop. This made me reflect on how sensationalism and crass commercialisation is peaking and Indian media would go to any extent for an exclusive story and to get people talking, from making a mockery of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput for TRP and spreading false narratives about him to the vilification of Rhea Chakraborty without any substantial evidence or the very recent reporting on Aryan Khan which was new lows. Hansal Mehta’s Scoop comes off strong in showing all that.
Here Jagruti is the scapegoat because she’s a strong independent woman who has her way with the world and has made a lot of enemies. After all, she’s good at what she does. The witch hunt, the humiliation, the pain and the irreversible trauma Jagruti endured made me think of how ‘innocent until proven guilty’ doesn’t apply to women. A woman is guilty the moment she tries to make her mark on the world.
A special mention to Karishma Tanna, who played the protagonist Jagruti Pathak because she just aced it. She got into the character’s skin so well that it almost felt like her own story. Mohammad Zeeshan Ayubb was a class act, and it was amazing to watch him on screen.
When the story comes to an end you see the testimony of Jigna Vohra and the list of journalists who are missing, arrested or killed since the 2000s and it will give you chills down your spine because the number is 102. The list includes Gauri Lankesh, Gautam Lakha, and many more prolific journalists.
And finally, Hansal Mehta’s Scoop leaves you with many questions. It will make you think hard and leave you with a sinking feeling over the realities of the fourth pillar of democracy.
For me, Scoop might be one of the best tv shows I’ve watched this year. It’s absolute perfection. An easy 10/10.