Kol filmmaker’s app scam docu bags Emmy current affairs nomination
Times of India | 18 August 2024
12 Kolkata: In a historic Emmy nod for a Kolkata documentary director, and in a first, an Indian film has been nominated for the 2024 International Emmy Awards for News & Current Affairs.
BBC India Eye’s documentary, ‘The Trap: India’s Deadliest Scam’, directed by city filmmaker Ronny Sen, features the intrepid investigative reporter Poonam Agarwal as she exposes a nefarious scam responsible for the deaths of 60 Indians, driven to despair after being blackmailed and shamed by unscrupulous loan apps.
The Current Affairs category also includes nomination for an undercover exposé about a clandestine hospital operating during the civil war in Myanmar and the harrowing tale of two siblings held captive by Hamas.
The Emmy nomination has made Sen happy. But what is making him happier is the free availability of the documentary online. “‘Trap: India’s Deadliest Scam’ marks the first project in BBC India’s attempt to make longform feature documentaries. I am glad that this documentary is not restricted to a niche audience but is being viewed globally for free on YouTube since its release 10 months back,” Sen told TOI from London. Instant loan apps provide swift access to funds with minimal documentation, but the convenience comes at a steep cost. The filming began in 2023 to understand how these apps gain access to sensitive user data, including contacts and personal images. Borrowers are required to submit official ID documents such as Aadhaar and PAN cards. Blackmailing gets easy once this data is available.
Victims’ accounts of horror stories also form another important part of the documentary. “We met this widower in Pune who told us on camera that he had no reason to live any further. His mother had brought up his daughter. Yet to repay a loan, his daughter had allegedly killed her grandmother just to steal her gold ornament. Another woman we spoke to had morphed nude photos sent to everyone on her contact list,” Sen said. What makes this documentary an edgy watch is the way Sen tracked Agarwal expose how this scam operates. She connected with an ex-recovery agent to understand the modus operandi that push unsuspecting people into a spiral of debt, the tricks used by recovery call centres and the extent victims are abused. “The entire scam is run by shame,” Sen said.
Filming such an investigative piece in India was challenging. “Earlier too we had seen secret filming. This is probably the first time this process of filming was used for a documentary,” he said.
The International Emmy winners will be recognized alongside their American news peers at a ceremony in New York on Sept 25.