Dylan Mohan Gray: Wanted to explore Vijay Mallya and his decisions

Nominated in mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, Bad Boy Billionaires creator Dylan Mohan Gray on aiming for an authentic story.

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.”

Dylan Mohan Gray

It took Gray by surprise when people around Mallya weren’t afraid to come on record and call him out.  “There was no fear of him trying to alter the narrative to his advantage, which helped bring in an authentic gaze into the story. Vijay was legally advised to not speak. Representing the family, Siddharth was initially skeptical and unsupportive of the project. It took several rounds of negotiations to convince him that the docuseries was neither a propaganda or a hatched job. We wanted to explore the person,  his decisions and deep dive into authentic facts,” he signs off. 

Did you know?

The fourth episode in Bad Boy Billionaires: India — showcasing B Ramalinga Raju — remains on hold as Netflix is contesting a legal challenge. 

Cast your vote for the Hitlist OTT Awards

Bad Boy Billionaires: India has been nominated in the Best Non-Fiction Show category. The other nominees are:  

. Wake N Bake - Rohan Joshi (Amazon Prime Video)
. The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (Netflix)
. Family Tandoncies - Amit Tandon (Netflix)
. Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)
. Outside In - Vir Das (Netflix)

Log on to www.hitlistottawards.com to cast your vote.

You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c as on the website) to 57575.

Voting lines close on February 9.

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