‘Made in India: A Titan Story’ series review: Jim Sarbh, Naseeruddin Shah bring to life an illuminating period-drama

In a hyperactive, incessantly digitised, alarmingly AI-driven landscape, it would be highly favourable to create a period drama without much hassle. A fitting answer to dropping attention spans would be to transport everyone to a vintage life in early ‘70’s Bombay, reimagining its streets on green screens, making the sun set over dramatic orange hues over the gateway, and having people wear salwar kameez, boot cut jeans, and squared glasses as they don tacky prosthetics and speak a heavily Bollywood-ised Hindustani. It would be easy to slip into the pitfalls of Indian streaming and substitute stillness with chaos by producing a show that is carefully planned and not mindfully crafted. Yet, Made in India: A Titan Story(Based on Vinay Kamath’s book Titan: Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand) takes the other route by disregarding the traps of algorithmic storytelling, avoiding cliches, and building a narrative rooted in joy and wonder.

There’s a focus on bringing every moment to life from the start. Like the manner in which the protagonist Xerxes Desai (Jim Sarbh) is introduced in the opening scene, as he amicably negotiates with a bunch of protesting workers outside his office. There’s a glimpse into his humane, empathetic side as well as his sharp interpersonal instincts as he skilfully convinces his superiors about the workers’ demands. A strong underdog tenacity resides in these early scenes that forms a vivid picture of Desai as he returns to Bombay after five years of regular work on desk. As he says to JRD Tata (Naseeruddin Shah), he wants to be challenged.

Made in India – A Titan Story (Hindi)

Director: Robbie Grewal

Cast: Jim Sarbh, Naseeruddin Shah, Vaibhav Tatwawadi, Namita Dubey, Lakshvir Singh Saran, Kaveri Seth

Duration: 45-53 minutes

Episodes: 6

Synopsis: The ambitious Xerxes Desai plans on building a top-class watch brand, which is made in India, employing a team of passionate people as he deals with the pressure and solves problems with his sharpness.

The screenplay displays a charming pattern of cause and effect as Desai stumbles upon the idea of making watches during a conversation. Writers Karan Vyas, Kandarp Shroff and Niraj Dasa design scenes which are not perpetually in a rush to take the plot ahead. Like how Desai keeps asking for work to his colleagues as he returns to the head office. Even his conversations with his much younger friend, Akash (a sincere Vaibhav Tatwawadi) unfold interestingly as the two fight, argue and mend their relationship along the way while vowing to not wear any other watch till they build their own, which they eventually name Titan. Time, for them, remains sedentary.

Ironically, as Akash strives to make his own ‘time’, his aged father begins to lose his sense of it, as the symptoms of alzheimer’s worsen. Akash’s father is stuck in the past, always asking him about his previous job and whether he is happy. The erosion of time and its impact on memory are briefly touched upon in some of these portions, even though the fragments don’t particularly merge well.

A still from the series
| Photo Credit:
Amazon MX Player

Director Robbie Grewal looks at the past without the burden of the present. Instead of recreating the era through tacky visuals, Grewal uses grainy stock footage shot in 4:3 aspect ratio to set context before diving into a scene and letting the visuals turn back to widescreen. Hence, people from the past feel closer to the present, expressing without the pressures of belonging to a particular period. Adding to the authenticity are classic songs that play over scenes, bringing back the simplicity of the time. The humanistic verses of Sahir Ludhianvi and Shailendra in songs like ‘Saathi Haath Badhana’ and ‘Dharti Kahe Pukaar Ke’ play over visuals of workers, recalling the apex of Nehruvian optimism that fuelled a generation, even as the show keeps the socio-political realities of the period comfortably ambiguous.

On the other hand, there are passing references to today’s political landscape as a character is called Modiji, JRD talks about bringing ‘Achhe din (good days)’ while an informal interview of a marketing head takes place at a roadside tea shop, as a character refers to it as ‘Chai pe Charcha’. These touches in the dialogue, along with multiple other paeans to Tata and Sons and its legacy, feel, in retrospect, like an extended feel-good ad campaign in which the brand integration has been subtly achieved.

Yet, it doesn’t quite take away the emotional resonance the show carries. The conflicts and complexities portray all sides of the characters, rather than turning them into glorified demi-gods. Their humanity is sustained, reflected even in the performances aimed at demystifying greatness. Sarbh remains at the center of all proceedings, lending a charming sensitivity to Xerxes Desai. Despite being a familiar face in the genre after playing Homi Bhabha in Rocket Boys, Sarbh’s body language as Desai stands out as he delivers his lines with an unassuming composure. Even Shah puts on a disarming act while embodying JRD’s towering personality. His warm presence is often missed, as he comes back after long intervals.

A still from the series
| Photo Credit:
Amazon MX Player

The interactions between the two carry a delightful touch of friendship, as they discuss business without letting monotony set in. Their emotions are palpable; their joys and sorrows are heartfelt. Made in India: A Titan Story respects screen time and uses it responsibly to genuinely create affecting moments without over-reliance on building hook-points and adding forced cliffhangers. That way, the show is an engaging, calming palette cleanser, moving at a sombre pace that the new-age media, with its bite-sized tales, is not accustomed to. It doesn’t fall over to pedestalise the subject; rather, it takes a spectacle and turns it into poetry.

Made in India: A Titan Story is streaming on