Affectionately called as 'King of OTT' in India, Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee's movie Despatch was released on Zee5 on December 13, 2024. Directed by Kunal Behl, Despatch is a thriller that revolves around an investigative journalist named Joy Bag portrayed by Manoj Bajpayee, and his quest to unravel the truth of the GDR 2G Scam. Despatch is inspired by the true story of India's biggest telecom scam named the 2G scam around a real-life journalist. Hence, fans are digging deep to know about Despatch True Story or Despatch Real Story.
Apart from Bajpayee, Despatch also features Shahana Goswami, Arrchita Agarwaal, Ritu Parna Sen, and more in the leading roles. Since you have landed on this page, True Scoop assumes that you have already watched the movie on Zee5 and wondering about who is Joy Bag in Despatch and Despatch Real Story or Despatch True Story.
Who is the real-life Joy Bag?
As per reports, the character of Joy Bag played by Manoj Bajpayee is inspired by a slain journalist named Jyotirmoy Dey aka J Dey. Jyotirmoy Dey was an investigative journalist for Mid-Day and also an expert on Mumbai underworld. In 2011, J Dey was shot dead by bike-borne sharpshooters.
Over the years, many things written about the incident, and the webseries Scoop too weaves around his murder, and is based on the life of former journalist Jigna Vora, who was accused (and later acquitted) of the crime.
Kunal Behl was quoted by TOI who informed, "It is not just J Dey. It started off with many other things that we have been observing in the country, and has been happening way before this incident. There is a certain trajectory of freedom of expression and things that are happening all around us, which we observe from way before that. So I think it was coming together in many of those kinds of cases."
India's 2G Scam
For the unversed, 2G Scam came to the fore when a report by the CAG of India revealed that 2G licenses for mobile networks were given at very low prices instead of carrying free and fair auctions. The then Telecom minister, A Raja, denied all charges and said that the decisions were made after then-apprising PM Manmohan Singh. A Raja was arrested in 2011 on charges of cheating, forgery and conspiracy.
The seriousness of the scam was such that Times Magazine termed the 2G Scam as the world's second-biggest abuse of executive power. The scam is a combination of three cases, one filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and two cases registered by the CBI.