‘Bad Boys Billionaire-India’ is a four-part documentary series that holds no prisoners when it comes to highlighting the crimes of some of the biggest financial fraudsters of the country. After opening to rave reviews in the foreign market of Netflix, the India release of the series was widely anticipated and after battling a couple of court cases, Netflix India finally managed to release 3 of the 4 episodes of the documentary on October 5.
However, Sahara Group on Thursday demanded a ban on the third episode named ‘The World’s biggest family,’ which shows the meteoric rise and the dizzying fall of Sahara Shree ‘Subroto Roy’. The Sahara Group on Thursday asked the streaming platform to take corrective measures to remove “ill-researched and baseless” content, which it alleged was aimed at tarnishing the image of the business house.
“The whole film is a bundle of lie, manipulating and ill-conceived which is an attempt made by Netflix to tarnish the image of Sahara,” said the spokesperson of the Sahara group.
Roy is currently on bail in a case where he was ordered by the court to repay billions of dollars to investors in a scheme that was found to be illegal. Roy denied wrongdoing in the case and has already repaid investors, his lawyers have repeatedly argued.
There’s no word on when the fourth episode based on Raju Ramalingam—the founder of the Satyam Computer Services will be made available. A hearing on the matter is ongoing at the Telangana High Court, which had observed in one of the hearing that the Hyderabad court should have watched the episode before granting an injunction, and noted that an individual couldn’t block a documentary that’s based on information available in the public domain.
Netflix might have had a hit and miss record when it comes to churning content for the Indian market but with Bad Boys Billionaire, it seems to have hit it out of the ballpark. Naming and shaming the ‘so-called tycoons’ who defrauded the country and exchequer of billions of dollars, with facts and figures and an immaculate direction has resonated with the audience which seems to be lapping up to the content.
Even when knee-deep in debt and undergoing the strenuous Indian judicial process, the likes of Subrato Roy and Ramalinga Raju are far more concerned about the PR that the Netflix documentary might bring them.
For all the not-so binge-able content that Netflix churns, it surely has produced some great documentaries off late. From Social Dilemma to Tiger king to Jeffrey Epstein and now Bad Boys Billionaire—Netflix has raised the bar and demands for a second season of Bad Boys Billionaire is picking pace.
Through the documentary, the infinitesimal chance these fraudsters had of making a comeback into the mainstream has vanished into smoke and it indeed serves them the best. The court cases are just a way to delay the inevitable, however, that being said, the more attention the court cases get, the more inquisitive people will turn up to watch the documentary. Victory for Netflix either way.