How Netflix India and Supriya Gupta Took On A Bad Boy Billionaire: 'A Victory For Free Speech'

A few weeks ago, Netflix India dropped 'Riding the Tiger', the fourth and final episode of its 2020 docu-series Bad Boys Billionaires: India. Chronicling the rise and fall of Satyam Computer Services founder Ramalinga Raju, convicted in 2015 for committing one of the largest corporate frauds in Indian history, the episode was held up over a five-year-long legal standoff between Netflix and Raju. On December 30, 2025, a Hyderabad civil court, acting on a directive of the Telangana High Court, vacated a stay order restraining Netflix from streaming the episode (the original suit, however, continues, and will next be heard on February 7).

Riding the Tiger is a fairly routine regurgitation of the Satyam story. Part of its dullness can be ascribed to Ramalinga Raju’s unassuming persona—he maintained a lower profile, certainly, than Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, and Nirav Modi, the other personalities profiled in the series. Occasionally, director Ashley Gething will hit upon something amusing and insightful. For instance, we learn that, when the scandal broke in 2009, so outraged was Hyderabad society that people reneged on arranged marriages. To be employed at Satyam Computers was a matter of great pride and social standing, attracting the best proposals. Only now, families refused to commit their sons and daughters to a tainted legacy.

The Hollywood Reporter India spoke to journalist-turned-filmmaker Supriya Gupta — who produced the four episodes of Bad Boys Billionaires including 'Riding the Tiger', and also directed the 2023 match fixing documentary Caught Out: Crime. Corruption. Cricket — about the prolonged legal battle, meeting Raju in person, and the state of Indian non-fiction on streaming.

Excerpts from a conversation:

This was an unusually long road to finishing an anthology. What were the timelines of the case?

Ramalinga Raju had filed an original suit in August, 2020 seeking a permanent ban on the series, accusing us of defamation. He also sought a temporary injunction against the series and the trailer. Similar petitions were filed by Mehul Choksi (uncle of Nirav Modi) and Subrata Roy in other parts of the country. While we won those cases pretty early on, this one took five years to come out. The Telangana High Court ordered the temporary injunction to be disposed of in 2023. However, the legal machinery in our country tends to grind on. As makers, it was a nerve-racking period for us since we did not know if the episode would ever see the light of day. I see it as a victory for free speech and journalism in India in some ways.

A common theme across all four episodes is the high level of susceptibility of the Indian public to a personality cult. At one point, Raju’s public image is compared to Mahatma Gandhi’s.

These were men who were put on a pedestal. They were perceived as invincible because they would liaison with the people in power. The media would play to their tune and there was an outpouring of public admiration. Somewhere, in our society, there is a deep desire to believe in success stories. Satyam Computer Services had brought about the IT revolution in our country. The big dream for a certain class of people in Andhra Pradesh was to move to the US and Satyam had made that aspiration tangible. In Hyderabad, Ramalinga Raju was perceived as a hero and in many ways, he was. As someone says in the episode, to have a job at Satyam was the golden ticket to marriage. The purpose of our series was not only to shed light on these individuals but also how, as people, we got sucked into the beautiful worlds they created.

Did you attempt to interview Raju for the episode?

He declined an interview on camera but we did meet him. He, to me, seemed like a genius, quite frankly. It takes a great level of ingenuity and charm to orchestrate a fraud of this scale. There is nothing like hearing the story from the man himself. The fact that he met us indicated that he was willing to engage. However, he is also someone who is very particular about his image. He still enjoys great respect in his community, especially in his village. Furthermore, (a part of) the Satyam case is still pending in courts so perhaps that was a deterrent for him to speak on camera.

There was a brief interest in investigative non-fiction at the start of the streaming wave in India. How do you see the genre today?

It is still a niche. It is not happening at the pace that I would like. Most of our conversations with commissioners is that they need a bigger market. Currently, it’s all true-crime and Bollywood. Even in that space, celebrities and public figures are unwilling to present the honest versions of themselves. Our institutions are not strong enough to support that kind of confessional storytelling. Compare that to the Taylor Swift documentary (The End of an Era). It's such a strong piece of work where she’s political and talking about the vulnerable side of her. Instead, we are left with the typical dining-with-celebrities shows. Where is the real, dark, dull side of their lives?

What kind of stories would you like to tell in the future?

I want to steer away from crime and scandal and tell stories of Indian soft power. One of the top stories for me at the moment is the IPL (Indian Premier League). It has changed the world of cricket and the fortunes of cricketers around the world. I would also like to tell more stories of aspiration. I directed and produced the India leg of the AP Dhillon documentary for Prime Video. I wanted to make a documentary on Vishwaraj Jadeja, an ice skater from Gujarat who moved to the Netherlands and put India on the winter sports map. But no one would tell that story. I wish we had avenues, platforms, funding and an audience to watch such documentaries.

What are you working on at the moment?

I shot something with Virat Kohli that is scheduled to come out on Netflix in a couple of months. I am currently making a documentary on stray dogs in India. The whole purpose is to raise empathy and tolerance for living beings. It’s not a political film per se but we have taken into account the protests that happened in Delhi. I am also developing a series on women cricketers and sportspersons.

This may sound facetious, but is a Season 2 of 'Bad Boys Billionaires' conceivable?

Well, going to the courts has become a pastime lately (laughs). Currently, we are just celebrating that the final episode is out. Netflix took a really bold step with Bad Boys Billionaires: India in 2020. They could have moved on after the legal blowback but they did not. To my knowledge, it’s the top non-fiction series coming out of India on Netflix. A Round 2 would be exciting but currently, there is no movement in that direction.