Money, money, money must be funny in a rich man’s world — the song by ABBA reverberates at the back of one’s mind while watching Netflix’s three-part series Bad Boy Billionaires: India. Envisioned as a multi-part outing, the series that has received a nomination in the Best Non-Fiction category at mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, caught the audience’s attention for its impartial storytelling. It explores the greed and fraud that built up and brought down India’s infamous tycoons — Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy. 

In a chat with mid-day, Canadian-Indian filmmaker Dylan Mohan Gray, who helmed the Mallya episode, decodes the thought process that went into creating the series. “I gave Vijay the benefit of doubt. What appealed to me as a storyteller was that I had an erroneous impression of him. [While there was ample news floating in the media], it still had the scope for a surprising story.” While Gray deems the business tycoon’s decisions questionable and unethical, he also believes that “there are many like him”. “His fugitive life attracted more attention than the facts of the case. Some people thought I was too harsh on him, some feel I was soft, but largely people thought I was fair,” says the director, adding that “real-life stories in India are told with a great deal of bias.”