Made in India: A Titan Story released on MX Player and, without much promotion or hype, created its place amid big releases and in the hearts of people. Led by Naseeruddin Shah as JRD Tata and Jim Sarbh as Xerxes Desai, the six-episode show reminded people of what Indian talent and perseverance can achieve. It also brought attention to the engineers, leaders and thinkers who believed in their ideas even when they were doubted.
In an exclusive conversation with India TV, Karan Vyas, the writer of Made in India: A Titan Story, opened up about crafting the show and the 3.5 years it took to bring the project to life.
Karan Vyas opens up about the process of Made in India: A Titan Story
Talking about the writing process of the series, Karan Vyas said, “I have been a part of the project since the first day, when Mr Bora acquired the rights to the book, within days. I had done extensive research on the Tata family and I actually wanted to make a show on the Tatas, but that was not creating that sort of buzz and excitement due to various reasons, one being the budget. So during my research on the entire Tata family, spanning 3-4 generations, I stumbled upon this journey, the story of Titan. So I was there from the beginning; we started this three and a half years ago.”
Jim Sarbh was the first person who came on board: Karan Vyas
Taking about the cast, Vyas said, “The first person we narrated this to was Jim and he instantly came on board. I narrated it to him on a quiet afternoon in Bandra and he just loved it. That was our first validation for this storytelling. So when we were writing Xerxes Desai, I already knew that I was writing for Jim. Our dream choice for JRD Tata was always Naseer Saab. So once we finished writing three episodes, we approached him and Naseer Saab, in a heartbeat, said ‘Yes’. So we were extremely fortunate.”
Jim Sarbh met people at Titan: Karan Vyas
Talking about Jim Sarbh’s process of becoming Xerxes Desai, Karan said, “Jim was championing the show from the very beginning. As I said, he has been part of the show for three years, so at regular intervals, he would attend readings. He read multiple books. He tried to meet people who had interacted with Mr Desai. Jim met a lot of people at Titan, so he travelled to Tata Press, which became Titan. He also went to Hosur. He visited the Titan Watch Company. He did a lot of his own research. But other than that, in general, we have a very strong reading culture, so we did extensive reading sessions and question-and-answer discussions with the cast.”
For the unversed, Made in India: A Titan Story is based on Vinay Kamath’s book Titan: Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand and is co-written by Karan Vyas, Niraj Dasa and Kandarp Shroff. The MX Player show is directed by Robbie Grewal.
