Bad Boy Billionaires: India
Four billionaires, four scandals, one documentary series.
Bad Boy Billionaires: India is a 2020 Indian Netflix original documentary anthology television series which focuses on the lives of four prominent business magnates of India, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Subrata Roy and Ramalinga Raju, who achieved prominent success in their businesses during their lifetime before being accused of corruption. The series chronicles major financial scams in India and was released in part, following a lawsuit initiated by Subrata Roy's Sahara Group. It became the most-watched documentary of 2020 in India and won a Filmfare Award in 2021.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Dylan Mohan Gray
- Nick Read
- Johanna Hamilton
- Country
- India
- Language
- English; Hindi
- Seasons
- 1
- Episodes
- 4
- Network
- Netflix
- Released
- 5 October 2020
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The documentary series explores scandals involving controversial Indian billionaires Vijay Mallya (Kingfisher Airlines), Subrata Roy (Sahara India), Nirav Modi (Gitanjali Group) and Ramalinga Raju (Satyam Computers).
- Netflix unveiled the official trailer on 24 August 2020, and it was subsequently removed following legal issues.
Legal issues
On 28 August 2020, two petitions were filed against the release of the documentary in the Bihar district court. The Bihar court passed an interim stay order on the petition filed by Subrata Roy against the release of the documentary on Netflix. Following the stay order, Netflix threatened to move to the Supreme Court against the court order restraining the documentary release. Diamond merchant Mehul Choksi also filed a petition against the release in the Delhi High Court, requesting a pre-screening after being told his involvement in the Punjab National Bank Scam was covered; his plea was dismissed by a single judge panel on 29 August 2020.
On 1 September 2020, the Hyderabad civil court restrained the release after issuing a stay order on a petition filed by Ramalinga Raju, who claimed the series documented half-truths and would unlawfully tarnish his reputation and privacy. On 2 September 2020, the Supreme Court rejected Netflix's plea for relief and upheld the stay order. On 5 October 2020, Netflix released three of the four episodes—featuring Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Subrata Roy—while the episode about Ramalinga Raju remained under legal injunctions.
On 31 December 2025, Netflix finally released the final episode after the Chief Judge of City Civil Court in Hyderabad vacated an ad-interim injunction that had restrained its streaming.
Reception
Critics generally liked Bad Boy Billionaires: India, earning it a 71% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.9 on IMDb. The Film Companion applauded its truth-to-power approach and journalistic scrutiny, though it stopped short of labeling it investigative journalism. Mixed reviews from The Scroll and The Hindu noted the series barely went beyond widely known facts. It won the 2021 Filmfare OTT Award for Best Nonfiction Original, Series/Special.
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