Made In India: A Titan Story Is A Perfect Spiel Of Bharat’s Aspiration | Part 1

Made In India: A Titan Story is a series that tells the tale of the unflinching Bharatiya spirit, the tenacious attitude of its people, the profoundness of its Samskriti and the unceasing energy of positivity that binds it all. It is refreshing in its storytelling for it is a celebration of wealth creators, the very people who are the fulcrum of Bharata’s growth engine. The series is based on Vinay Kamath’s book ‘TITAN: Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand’, traversing the journey of Xerxes Desai (played by Jim Sarbh), his mentor Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (JRD Tata – played by Naseeruddin Shah) and their quest for building the brand ‘Titan’. The series is a masterpiece in storytelling. It showcases the scale of Bharatiya vision,

spirit of human sacrifice and exemplary leadership in tough times. It serves as a mirror to all the naysayers and people with colonial hangovers who keep harping about Bharat not achieving great things in the period post independence. The success story of ‘Titan’, breaks the myth and stereotype around Bharatiya people not having the skill and vision to build world class products. It is a perfect roast of the naysayers.

For me watching the series has been a delight because of how beautifully through the direction (by Robbie Grewal) and storytelling, the series tries to communicate the growing years of Bharat through the growth of a brand and the people behind it. The strength of the series lies in the completeness of the story of the brand and the touching human stories of the people behind it. First, the journey of Titan from an idea to a global brand is awe inspiring. What started from an insult by a Swiss watchmaker stating that Bharatiya people lacked the skill and vision to make a watch brand in front of JRD Tata, culminated by the takeover of the same swiss brand by Titan. This is synonymous to the growth of Bharat, which was once mocked for its poverty, now shares the stage with the G7 countries. The Journey of Titan as a brand from its initial styling, to its brand building and to its famous Mozart tune is a reflection of the growing years of the aspiring Bharat. The dialogue “Kyunki yeh ghadi sirf waqt nahi dikhaati, balki jo ise pehenta hai uska waqt bhi bataati hai”, truly epitomises the ‘badalta waqt’ of Bharat through the growth of Titan. The series also beautifully tells human stories and each character, especially the main characters, symbolically stands for something meaningful which enriches the audience experience. The character of Xerxes symbolises courage, JRD Tata’s symbolises leadership, Akash (Xerxes’ friend and co-founder of Titan) symbolises conscientiousness and characters of Gaurav and Megha (first recruits of Titan) symbolizes innovation and solution orientation.

The characters find a direct connection with the audience and the series successfully communicates that if a bunch of well intentioned people take upon themselves to do the unprecedented, then history and legacy both are rewritten. The character of Xerxes Desai is worth emulating for all budding entrepreneurs. He is a man looking to pursue something meaningful in life, forcing him to ask JRD Tata “I want a challenge”. He is practical, solution oriented and is a visionary. His practical approach led him to test the market himself. As a founder, there is a very big lesson in him doing the market survey himself alongwith Akash. Him going to Chor Bazaar to understand the watch market initially and then again to understand why the sales of Titan watches is more in the South than in the North, clearly highlights how important it is for business owners to have a hands-on feel of the market.

It also shows why Xerxes Desai was a successful entrepreneur as even in tough times he took it upon himself to find solutions to problems. His problem solving ability is also depicted in the very first scene when he helped resolve a strike by convincing the TIDCO board to provide accommodation to workers in the campus vicinity to address salary issues. He was a firm believer of ‘Demonstration over Discussion’. He not only understood the demand of the workers but also used an innovative approach of demonstration to convince the management. This incisiveness is a testament of his wisdom and problem solving skills. His modus operandi of ‘Demonstration over Discussion’ is a management lesson to all entrepreneurs. This approach was also used later by the new Marketing manager of Titan (Murli Shankar Dalmia (MSD)), who called Xerxes along with the team to a wedding to propose an idea of marketing Titan as a gift as it conveyed emotions rather than a product.

This demonstration really helped in convincing Xerxes and the team as they could feel MSD’s idea. Also, the gesture of handing over the umbrellas to win over the workers by Xerxes and even supporting them to raise slogans in English for making the board of TIDCO sarcastically understand their problems was a clear example of his understanding of humans and addressing grievances.

Beyond problem solving, Xerxes was a visionary. His dialogue “Titan sirf ek ghadi nahi, is desh ki pehchaan ban sakti hai”, epitomises his vision and scale of thought. His vision for Titan makes him compromise on his family time. His sacrifice is felt by the audience. The scene where Xerxes couldn’t attend his own daughter’s play as he was busy with work and the camera zooms in on his sulking face after his wife tells him about his daughter’s accolades is phenomenal. The pain in a father’s eyes on missing out on his daughter’s growing years while he is busy building something is heart wrenching. Irrespective of all the work and attachment to Titan, he is still depicted as a family man, caring about his wife, cooking whenever he gets a chance.

His traditional Parsi dressing and the nurturing nature around his family is very fulfilling. But most of all Xerxes Desai epitomises courage. He doesn’t fear failure. The scene where JRD Tata scolds the team for their non performance, the calm demeanor of Xerxes Desai and his motivation to the team explaining their ‘freedom of failure’ is a masterclass. His dialogue “Bade sapne ka raasta badi asafalta se hokar hi jaata hai. Jab hum failure ko celebrate karte hain, tab hum apni galti ko accept kar sakte hain. Move on karna aasaan ho jaata hai, aur grow karna usse bhi aasaan”, summarises his character very well of a person who is positive and is ready to face failures.

The character of JRD Tata epitomises leadership. He is someone who is admired and respected. But the best part about him is that he stood up for the dignity of Bharat and its people. This is brilliantly depicted in his refusal to wear a watch till Xerxes builds a Bharatiya watch brand for him. His line “Fail again. Fail better.” shows his consistent growth mindset. He is depicted as a man who has always led from the front. This is showcased in the scene where he, Xerxes and Akash meet the TIDCO people for the first time for negotiations. He offered TIDCO a share in the company along with a promise to generate local employment, an offer they couldn’t refuse.

He held fort in the most critical juncture for the company as this was a meeting with a minister and his experience and leadership helped in cracking a deal which eventually became the bedrock of Titan. Also, this series has multiple instances which shows how a true leader behaves but one instance which stands out is when JRD Tata asks Xerxes to sign the TIDCO MOU agreement thus giving him the validity as the founder and leader of TITAN. This is what true leaders do.

They know when to take a step back and give other leaders a platform to build something. Similarly, the scene where JRD Tata on seeing his team struggling to find a tune that suits the brand of Titan, takes them out to a concert where they actually find the Mozart tune which later got associated with the brand, is a learning for all young leaders.

One of the final scenes of JRD Tata in the series, where he shows his slimmest Titan watch to the same swiss watchmaker who insulted that Bharat doesn’t have the skill to make the watch and his expression of pride and content that we have done the unfathomable gives goosebumps. His leadership is defined by the dialogue “India must not become only an economic superpower. It should be a happy country.”

This should be our vision for the future. The vision should not only be restricted to economic growth but our growth should be clubbed to a sustainable, healthy and happy living for all Bharatiyas. JRD Tata was a leader par excellence and the series depicts this through wonderfully nuanced story telling and character building.

Picture abhi baki hai mere dost!