The company's management watches workers' protests from the top floor. They can hear 'Mehnat Ki Moorat, Majdoor Ki Soorat' all over the place. Even the rain doesn't stop the strike. No one in the boardroom knows what to do. Then a man in a suit walks in. He brings umbrellas for each worker. Soon, the management hears a new slogan, 'Chin Up, Pay Up'. Yes, he taught them English slogans too.
Turns out he was part of the management. He tells the board that the strike will end only if workers stay on the premises and finish the work on time. He even asks them to give up their quarters for workers. Of course, that was a bitter pill. So he tries another idea: convert a few empty halls into dorms. The board agrees. He knew they would. If he had suggested halls first, they would have rejected that too. And that's how he ends the strike. That man was Xerxes Desai, a Tata employee, before building Titan.
This is the first scene in the latest series 'Made in India: A Titan Story.' This series is an ode to one of the most successful business journeys in India. There's no machismo, no grand monologues, sensational music or cliffhangers to hook us up. Yet you feel involved. Every success and setback feels like your own. You feel like clapping after every milestone and almost well up your eyes when something goes wrong.
For me, this is a patriotic story — much better than any spy or war movies. It's not the usual high-octane, adrenaline-rush kind Bollywood loves to make. It's more of oxytocin-like patriotism, warm and steady. I wish we had more content that celebrates businesses and wealth creation this way.
Business Equals Villain
Unfortunately, Indian cinema struggles to show a real businessperson. Usually, he (yes, because movies have yet to digest the fact that women can do business) has one of these characteristics: the sahukar or moneylender, the heartless industrialist, the corrupt builder, the politician's financier, or the rich father who protects a criminal son. He controlled land, credit, factories, jobs and even a local politician, making him a perfect villain.
Well, one may argue that the days of licence raj, smuggling and cronyism may have created such businessmen. But the portrayal didn't change as much even after the economic reforms of 1991. Liberalisation created new kinds of businesspeople with genuine success stories with no criminal connection. Yet popular films and television continued the same old stories with transformed appearances — from jodhpuris to cargos, and from cabarets to clubs. The businessman remained either a villain or a distant patriarch.
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A Change That Lacks Substance
Yes, things are changing. People are making movies on finance, business and money. But the famous ones involved scams and crimes, leaving a huge gap for showing genuine business stories.
And if there is no crime, then businesses exist only to show a large house, office scenes, family conflict, and a powerful surname, to support a larger drama. In such cases, we hear familiar lines such as "Prepare the invoice", "There is a big presentation", "An important client is coming", "The US client is on the call" or "I'll be late because of a meeting". The producers might want to show more about characters who are wealthy and busy. But they do not show exact work.
What Are We Missing?
The point I am trying to say is that we rarely see what business people actually do on our screens. How do they make day-to-day decisions? How do they negotiate with suppliers, convince a customer, manage cash flow, handle a failed product, train teams, or decide whether to expand? What happens when a founder is wrong? What does a CEO's family go through during his toughest periods?
The Titan series gets it all right. It has dramatised a few moments but didn't overdo it. It has shown what passion can do for an entrepreneur and what employees can do for the company. Struggle, tension, curiosity, strategy, and family — it covers everything without turning anyone into a villain. And the women matter. There's no objectification, no token roles, no lazy sexualisation. Even with three male leads, the women have arcs that shape the story. That alone makes the series stand out. This series is an exception. It deserves far more attention than it's getting, and I hope it pushes creators to tell more stories like this.
Business is not only about greed, glamour, or gravitas. It is also about judgment, uncertainty, persuasion, discipline, failure, and responsibility. It involves people trying to build, sell, employ, compete, survive, and sometimes make difficult compromises. India has real-life stories like that people would love to watch on screens.
Final Take
The state or slogans didn't deliver India's long-term growth. It's the cumulative effort of Titan‑like stories. Numerous stories lifted India's poor, gave them dignity, and solved hard problems. Everyday grind that each of us goes through builds companies and, in turn, the country, day by day. That's the part of nation-building we rarely talk about in society, forget the pop culture.
This series reminds us that building brands and big businesses is also a patriotic work. By showing scams, crimes and an immoral businessman, we shrink our imagination of what India can be. India is more than that, for sure.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NDTV Profit or its affiliates. Readers are advised to conduct their own research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment or business decisions. NDTV Profit does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented in this article.
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