Created by Hansal Mehta and Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul, ‘Scoop’ is an Indian Hindi-language crime and legal drama series that revolves around Jagruti Pathak, a Senior Crime Journalist and the Deputy Bureau Chief for the Eastern Age, and chronicles her time spent in the Byculla jail for her alleged involvement in the murder of fellow senior journalist Jaideb Sen. Set in 2011, the Netflix series shows viewers the harsh reality behind the race for exclusive news between journalists, and the physical and mental (and sometimes moral) sacrifices they make to get their hands on a story before anybody else.
The drama series features sensational performances by Karishma Tanna, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Harman Baweja, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Deven Bhojani, and Ira Dubey. Though the overall storyline surrounds Jagruti Pathak and the murder of Jaideb Sen, one of the better qualities of ‘Scoop’ is that it isn’t preoccupied with their personal narrative or point-of-view alone. One of the other key characters who drive the story forward is JCP Shroff.
Jagruti’s best source within the police force, Shroff later acts as an investigator on her case when the crime journalist is arrested. JCP Shroff’s charismatic persona mixed with his ability to get things done in ‘Scoop’ certainly attracts the viewers towards him. And some of them might even find themselves wondering about the origins of such a complicated character. If you’re wondering the same, then here’s everything that you need to know about Shroff!
Himanshu Roy: The Real-Life Inspiration Behind JCP Shroff
JCP Shroff was a real person. Shroff is based on the late Himanshu Roy, a decorated IPS officer from Maharashtra. In 2011, Roy was the Joint Commissioner of Police in Mumbai when he was investigating journalist Jigna Vora’s alleged connections with Chhota Rajan in the assassination of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey. All of this is recorded in Vora’s biographical memoir ‘Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison,’ on which ‘Scoop’ is based.
Having graduated from the 1988 cadre of Maharashtra’s IPS officers, Himanshu Roy was known as a supercop in Mumbai owing to the vast number of high-profile cases he’d taken on, especially related to mobster Chhota Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim. One of these cases was an attack on Dawood Ibrahim’s brother’s driver in June 2011, which set the course of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey’s murder and Jigna Vora’s subsequent arrest – all of which is chronicled in ‘Scoop.’
A larger-than-life figure, both literally and figuratively, Roy stood over six feet tall with rippling muscles and a glorious mustache. A profile on Himanshu Roy published on May 20, 2013, in India Today described him as an extremely charismatic figure who had connections in the film industry and in political circles. His networking skills were so legendary that one sub-inspector even said that if Roy’s said that he’d get something done, it was as good as done. And bringing such a figure to life in ‘Scoop’ is actor Harman Baweja.
The 42 year-old-actor, who is known for films like ‘Love Story 2050,’ and ‘What’s Your Raashee?’ embodies every bit of Roy’s physicality and charm on-screen. Speaking on his role in the series, Baweja said in an interview with India Today, “It was a great script, a very interesting character, very unlike something that I would, you know, probably ever imagine myself doing and it was definitely out of my comfort zone because it does have some very interesting shades.”
Glimpses of Himanshu can be seen in Baweja’s Shroff throughout ‘Scoop’ – the real-life police officer’s obsession with fitness as Shroff exercises with zeal and encourages his son to do so as well, the way in which he would change a subject he doesn’t want to discuss through a joke or a story, and even the cancer diagnosis that Himanshu struggled with in his final days. Even in scenes where he doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, Baweja’s facial expressions are enough to let the audience know just what is going on in Shroff’s mind.
Harman Baweja was, in fact, the show’s creator Hansal Mehta and casting director Mukesh Chabra’s very first choice to portray the role of Shroff in ‘Scoop.’ “Harman was an inspired choice. We were making a film together and we met at Mukesh Chabra’s office for the casting of that film. Mukesh and I are messaging each other that Harman is a good choice. I told Mukesh to propose his name to Netflix because they had given a few other names.” said Mehta in an interview with News18.
Himanshu Roy is No Longer Alive Today
He added, “I said, ‘You propose this name and I will second it. Don’t let them know that I know.’ So it went to Netflix as Mukesh’s choice and Netflix’s choice. They came to me and said, ‘Don’t get upset but we think Harman is a good idea.’ I said, ‘Yeah, very good, wow, so inspired.’” In reality, the real-life JCP Shroff, IPS officer Himanshu Roy, unfortunately, passed away on May 11, 2018.
Himanshu Roy had been struggling with a cancer diagnosis for quite a few years before the fateful day, and the mental strain of it had become too much for him to handle, so he made the decision to take his own life. But his meritorious career as a police officer, as well as his personality and outlook on life, shall most certainly live on through those who knew him well and through the character inspired by him in ‘Scoop.’
Read More: Is Scoop’s Jaideb Sen a Real Journalist?
