Meet the Bad Boy Billionaires – Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy: Legal battle, controversy and review of Netflix’s new series

The release of Bad Boy Billionaires — a documentary series by Netflix, is being seen as a victory of freedom of expression by many on social media. The controversial documentary on the lives of some Indian business tycoons who were involved in several scandals and frauds got tangled in a series of legal battles.

The first three episodes cover life of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy. These three Indian industrialists were involved with several cases of money laundering, bank frauds and several other scandals.

The series “explores the greed, fraud and corruption that built up — and ultimately brought down — India’s most infamous tycoons,” Netflix says on its website. The fourth episode of the series — about B. Ramalinga Raju — remains on hold as Netflix is contesting a legal challenge on it.

Bad Boy Billionaires is (finally) streaming! pic.twitter.com/p5CymIzx3U

— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) October 5, 2020

CONTROVERSY & LEGAL TROUBLE: The much-awaited series landed in legal trouble before getting a final go-ahead. The series revolves around three business tycoons, Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, Ramalingam Raju and Nirav Modi who were accused of multiple scandals and frauds. But since the series is based on real events one of the tycoons, Subrata Roy filed a case in Bihar court appealing to ban the documentary.

Roy who is the chairman of Sahara India Pariwar filed the case in Bihar court. The applicant cited that the series would tarnish the image of Roy and therefore they sought a ban on it. The legal hassle led to the delay as the series which was supposed to broadcast in September had to face a delay.

Another industrialist Ramalinga Raju had also filed a case against the series.

Netflix legal team won the case and finally, the series is streaming on the platform. As the series revolves around four industrialists, it is divided into four parts. But the last part which features Ramalinga Raju is still at a halt because of legal issues.

Meet The Bad Boys

The King of Bad Times: Vijay Mallya – The episode is directed by Dylan Mohan Gray. Vijay Mallya one seen as visionary businessman is now economic offender taking refuge in UK. The episode is about rise and fall in his Kingfisher empire. The business tycoon has undergone legal allegations of money laundering and debt. The episode showcases the archive footage and interviews of Vijay Mallya’s family members. The interview of his son Sid Mallya, his executive assistant Tushita Patel and his friend Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is also seen in the documentary.

All good times must come to an end.#BadBoyBillionaires pic.twitter.com/EraRgKzaDo

— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) October 7, 2020

Diamonds Aren’t Forever: Nirav Modi

The second episode documents how Nirav Modi fled abroad after his famous jewellery brand faced allegations of illegally inflating diamond prices. This episode is directed by Johanna Hamilton. This episode documents the perspectives of the commentators. It also portrays the influence of Nirav Modi’s uncle Mehul Choksi and his partnership with his wife that established him as a big brand name in the industry.

The World’s Biggest Family: Subrata Roy Sahara

The most controversial episode is directed by Nick Reads. It is an investigative documentary on the chit fund operator Subrata Roy Sahara. The business tycoon has developed a big community known as Sahara India Pariwar and several different small businesses are run under the brand name of Sahara India. He has been accused of doing fraud by enticing poor investors into a pyramid scheme.