Sony LIV Confirms ‘Scam 2010’ Production Will Go Ahead Despite Legal Threat

Sony LIV is pressing on with the latest edition of the Scam crime drama franchise. The streamer’s parent, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), today confirmed it had secured the rights to make Scam 2010: The Subrata Roy Saga, which is based on a Tamal Bandyopadhyay book, following a legal threat. The show is now in production. Sahara India Pariwar, the company founded by the late Subrata Roy, previously said it could take legal action as the fictionalized version of events could impact an ongoing dispute between the company and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). However, during a roundtable with journalists today, SPNI Managing Director and CEO Gaurav Banerjee said, “I believe so” in response to a question about whether the issue had been resolved. An SPNI rep later added to Deadline: “We have all the rights of the book in place [to produce the series].” Watch on Deadline Sahara couldn’t be contacted before press time today to respond. The company had called the announcement of Scam 2010 “an abusive and grossly condemnable act” to “achieve cheap and wide publicity” back in 2024. Upon announcement in May 2024, Scam 2010 was billed as “the dust-to-diamonds story of maverick businessman Subrata Roy.” Based on the book ‘Sahara: the Untold Story’, press materials noted: “In the early 2000s, the glamourous Roy was caught in a whirlwind of accusations ranging from chit-fund manipulations to fake investors, ultimately leading to his arrest in 2014.” We have reached out to Sahara for comment. Roy, a businessman who founded Sahara in 1978, died in 2023. Despite his company being one of India’s largest employers, income tax authorities had long asserted Sahara was a money laundering operation and Roy was arrested in 2014 over for failing to appear in court over money that had not been returned to investors. Applause Entertainment and director Hansal Mehta, who made the previous two Scams, returned to make the third edition in association with Sony’s Studio Next, and the show was included in SPNI’s slate announcement today, now billed as chronicling “the rise and fall of a massive financial empire.” The legal threat appeared to have derailed the production, but Banerjee revealed the show had “just started shooting.” According to local reports over recent months, Siddharth Bodke plays Roy, with Kritika Singh, Moon Banerjee and Aditya Srivastava also cast.