After a month-long legal tussle, Netflix has finally released the controversial docu-series Bad Boy Billionaires. The three-episode series delves into the alleged fraud committed by business tycoons Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Sahara India chief Subrata Roy.
However, the episode on Satyam Computer Services founder B Ramalinga Raju has been held by the streaming platform.
After a court in Bihar’s Araria district on Saturday (3 October) vacated the stay it had imposed on the release in September from airing the series, Netflix dropped Bad Boy Billionaires on its platform, as per a report by Hindustan Times.
The series had hit a roadblock after Mehul Choksi, Subrata Roy and Ramalinga Raju had approached courts saying that the show might affect their trials. People tracking the developments have said that since Raju's matter is still pending in the Hyderabad court the episode on him did not release, the HT report added.
Netflix had challenged the order of a lower court in Araria after it had asked the platform not to use Roy's name. Roy had said in his plea that the series was an attempt to malign his image. Even Choksi had approached the Delhi High Court saying his reputation would suffer used references from his life.
The Delhi HC had dismissed Choksi's plea.
The first episode of the series, titled The King of Good Times, is about Vijay Mallya. The description reads, “Beer baron and airline owner Vijay Mallya builds a brand image of excess till his Kingfisher empire plunges into alleged money laundering and debt.”
The second episode on Nirav Modi is titled Diamonds Aren’t Forever. “Dazzling the world’s elite to globalise his jewelry brand, Nirav Modi is suspected of illegally inflating diamond prices,” the description says.
The last is titled The World’s Biggest Family. Netflix describes the episodes as, “Subrata Roy takes his Sahara India Pariwar conglomerate to dizzying heights before facing accusations of enticing poor investors into a pyramid scheme.”
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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