What makes a great heist?


 
The answer is simple. There are only two types of heist movies.

Type 1:  The one where you are shown the plan upfront, and the rest of the story is about it going horribly wrong.
Type 2 : The one where you watch the events unfold, and the rest of the story is you figuring out the plan.

All heist stories follow this template. Movies like Inception and Rififi fall in the first category. Others like Inside Man, Reservoir Dogs and Ocean's 11 fall in the second. Arguably, no other story genre lends itself to such a simple breakdown into two categories. It's obvious when you see the template. Despite this, I must confess that I love heists. It takes up my bookshelf and my Netflix recommendations. The twists. The turns. The characters. The motivations. Exquisite. That's why I was excited when I read today's story by Sidhartha.

So this is what happened. MoneyOnMobile, a company that believes in describing their business model in their name, claims to be the largest mobile payments platform in India, and has processed $2 billion so far over 200 million mobile phones since its inception. That's the target. The story begins with where MoneyOnMobile is right now: an arbitration petition in the Bombay High Court, a lawsuit seeking $27 million in damages in the London Court of International Arbitration, and a criminal case with the Mumbai Police charging some of the partners with various cyber crimes.

Wow.

William Black famously wrote a book in the 80s with the title 'The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One'. Today's story makes it evident that a mobile payment company with a PPI license may be a bit more lucrative.

You should read it. The characters are as colourful as you'd expect in a heist movie. There's a mastermind, a foreigner, an insider who knows the target well, a veteran called out of retirement, a reluctant participant and a tough guy with muscle. It's a classic Type 2 story about what unfolds when all of them try to wrest control of the prize—the company itself.

It’s long. But it's worth it. It's also our free read for the week, do share it widely. You can read it here: https://the-ken.com/story/the-moneyonmobile-heist/
 
Also, what's your favourite heist story? Let me know.
 

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