‘The Big Bull’ movie review: Mildly engaging film on Harshad Mehta

‘The Big Bull’ is about one of the biggest scams in India. Inspired by stockbroker Harshad Mehta’s life, it tells his story with intelligent one-liners.

Hemant Shah (Abhishek Bachchan) works as a market manipulator and his brother Viren Shah (Sohum Shah) assists him. He is soon pulled into a bank receipt fraud.

The screenplay feels a bit dodgy, but it offers some terrific lines like ‘What you see is what sells’ and ‘Stories are born out of circumstances and not character’.

The bullish roar that you hear every time Abhishek appears works as a background motif but the songs are unnecessary.

The film’s comparison with the hit web series ‘Scam 1992’ is unfair. The latter is definitely more realistic but ‘The Big Bull’, being a feature, faced time constraints and commercial expectations from the audience.

Ileana D’Cruz as reporter Meera Rao (based on journalist Sucheta Dalal) is impressive. Some of her scenes with Abhishek are intense. Abhishek, who impressed in another biopic ‘Guru’ (on Dhirubhai Ambani), does a good job again. Overall, ‘The Big Bull’ is a mildly engaging drama.