Explore the inspiring rise of Titan in pre-liberalized India. A deep dive into the show’s lessons on teamwork, innovation, and bold leadership under JRD Tata
Satya Narayan Misra
Based on Vinay Kamath’s book “Titan: Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand” (2021), director Robbie Grewal has conjured an illuminating period drama, streaming on Amazon MX Player, ‘Made in India – A Titan Story ‘. It disregards the traps of algorithmic storytelling and builds a narrative rooted in wonder and joy, skirting clichés in the process and morphing a potentially dry documentary into a warm love story between men, women, and machines. Titan is a true Made in India story of India’s first quartz watch, Titan by the Tatas , led by its legendary leader JRD , to take on the might of HMT and the avalanche of imported European watches that were sold in the black market . It also took away the ingrained habit of winding a knob to run a watch. It’s a fascinating story of individual passion, built on the foundation of solid teamwork, backed by the most powerful business house, the Tatas, in pre-liberalised India, where license, permit and quota and the ruling elite with their wily babus ruled the roost!
The Story of Titan
One of Nehru’s temples of independent India, HMT, was founded in 1953 in Bangalore and diversified into watchmaking in 1961 through a collaboration with Citizen of Japan. The Janata watch became its visible mascot, while a thriving black market of Swiss watches had a field day. The story of Titan opens with energy, mirroring Xerox Desai’s flamboyant and deeply people-centric style. Under JRD’s bold vision and Xerex’s spirited leadership, they set out to build a world-class Indian watch, capable of taking on the dominant European giants. Xerex had a solid team consisting of Akash , his sounding board , IIT topper Gaurav, and doe-eyed, determined Megha Mhatre, each committed to the goal of creating a wearable, world-class, affordable device that would change the way Indians clocked time . Titan faced enormous hurdles that ranged from antiquated government rules (MRTP Act) , unwillingness of banks to lend loans, to poor sales as the market did not want to look beyond the government-patronised HMT.
The High Points
Faced with these insurmountable hurdles with a Tata Board unwilling to risk such an uncertain and humungous investment proposal, Xerex dabbled with innovative designs and sent designers to Europe in order to ensure that Titans are world-class. Xerex and his team’s determination to turn humiliation into history by building a world-class watch in India is what makes the show so special; it’s the soul underneath the muscular team that provides the spine. Titan is a tale of innovation and fortitude, of thinking outside the box and the courage to acknowledge failure. One of the refreshing moments in the Titan story is when Xerex urges his team to celebrate failure. As if this were not enough, JRD exhorts the team ‘to fail again, but fail better’. These iconic lines linger long after, reflecting the kind of mature, resilient leadership required to build a brand’s legacy. The other high points of Titan Story are innovative ideas like Uniform Consumer Price to pre-empt asymmetry of price between the South & the North. The way the name Titan was conceived, and the Mozart track the team stumbled upon to create the iconic Titan theme music, are breathtaking.
The Performances
Jim Sarbh as Xerex delivers yet another magnificent performance after his essaying Homi Bhabha in Rocket Boys; charismatic, sharp, and vulnerable. His elfin Parsi charm, making delectable akuri breakfast, reminds me of Nasir playing the role of a Parsee in the film Pestonjee. Veteran Nasiruddin as JRD is magisterial – restrained, dignified and carrying the quiet weight of a nation’s aspiration. Under the discerning eye of Nasir , Jim Sharbh demonstrates how to perform in tandem , without being overwhelmed, reminding one of the resplendent acting in tandem of thespian Dilip Kumar with the Angry Young siren of the 80s , Amitabh, in the film Shakti. Vaibhav, as Akash , brings solid, dependable energy as Desai’s ally . Saran & Kaveri add intense , layered performance . They are exceptionally grounded as the slow-burning couple in the team . Kaveri’s journey in the corporate world particularly resonates as she is battling with society’s pressure to marry and ‘settle down’, while she is trying to shine in a man’s corporate world. Namita Dubey ‘s chemistry with Sarbh is natural and warm and shows how marriage can be one of equals. The series uses smartly golden era Hindi film songs like Ajeeb Dastan Yeh, Sar Jo Tera Chakraye , Ek Din Bik Jayega , Thandi Hawa Kali Ghata , and Hai Apna Dil to Awara to stir different types of emotion and pull us into nostalgia.
Many Lessons
The Titan story is not merely a story of how quartz analog electric watches were manufactured in Hosur in the 1980s and eventually marketed successfully in India and abroad despite the asphyxiating control regime under Indira. It was built by ordinary heroes like Megha, Gaurav & Akash under the tutelage of a maverick Xerex and the charismatic leadership of JRD Tata. JRD, though an admirer of Nehru, strongly believed that socialism was not the right economic ideology to pursue in India. For him, for India to produce world-class products in India, we need to embrace the best global practices and be market-friendly and innovative. To quote JRD: ‘Ache Din Chalte Nahin hain, lana padta hai’. (Good times do not come walking; they have to be grabbed). In the hype surrounding Make in India, these prophetic words of JRD could not have been more timely. The Titan story is inspiring as it provides valuable lessons in teamwork, vision, value addition, technology, and risk-taking. It takes us back to a time when a simple wristwatch carried with it dreams of pride, precision, and possibility. And how to be in tune with the times.
(Satya Misra is a film aficionado. Views expressed are personal.)
