1/01/2021

Headline, January 01 2021/ ''' '' BADS BILLIONAIRES BOYS '' '''

 

''' '' BADS BILLIONAIRES 

BOYS '' '''



STREAMING NOW ON NETFLIX : BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES : INDIA is rated 13+ [TV-14]. There's nothing atrocious in the series, other than the people headlining each episode, or their smart cons.

EVER so often, a screaming news anchor [the kind that populates even the nooks and crannies of Indian media would flash an incredulous number, that at first glance, looked as if it came out of an uber-rich family of an Indian saas-bahu daily soap : 11,000 crores anchor one screams, 74,000 crores, a bulletin reports.

With loans mostly pilfered from government-owned banks, seeing Mallya or Modi bypass the checks and balances of the system with underhand tactics wasn't a novel revelation. Like many ambitious man in power and the spotlight, they had the desire to go big.

Roy, the owner of the Sahara Group - the Sahara India Pariwar - is in a different [and if you believe the findings and of the documentary], more sinister-minded league.

Roy started young, riding a blue Vespa scooter into small towns, where he gave low-income underprivileged people an eye-opening offer : invest just 10 rupees daily in a 'chit-fund', see your profits grow and earn three times their interest.

A little background on this first : chit-funds are basically unregistered banks, or in legalese : RNBCs [residuary non-banking companies]. As a privately-listed companies, there internal matters are hard to scrutinize by the government.

The scam, however, is bigger. Every participant in the fund is deemed an employee of the Sahara Group [ergo, the Pariwar - family - aspect], and as employees they have to persuade others to invest meagre sums daily, otherwise the chain would stop, and one's own rate of interest would not go up. This is called a pyramid scheme, and it's one of the smarter cons in the world. Now back to the story.

Money started piling in and, in two decades, Sahara became a power-brand, owning cricket and Formula One teams, launching airlines, television networks, real-estate ventures, IT, you name it.

Like most billionaires, Roy shifted to a gargantuan estate with a miles-long pathways, helicopter pads and a house that mimicked the design of the American White House.

Sporting dyed hair, a constant uniform of white short with sleeveless vest and shades. Roy walked with the swagger of a South Indian movie villain. If one isn't convinced by his look, aerial shots of his real estate, and the billions be filched from the still running chit-fund, legitimize the image.

Engaging documentaries do that : they legitimize their points of view. Unlike popular convention, documentaries don't just report facts; it's a creative art form that carries forward the filmmakers conviction... or in more commercial ventures, ''document the values'' of the conglomerates that have hired them. But that's a debate for another day.

Roy's story in the climatic episode, stood out from the others because he cheated people from low -income households. The chit-funds he established never paid anyone back, no matter how hard one pleaded, or if family members died in hospitals. It's a harrowing display of one's lack of compunctions.

Roy falls hard, when he is forced to publicly register his companies in a new bid to grow grow his endeavours, but the tactics he employed even there are, literally, out of a South Indian movie. His 50- odd minute episode goes by in a flash [actually, every episode is just as engaging].

Although, mostly the same, each episode is handled by a different director; one can see the difference - however minute they maybe - in the rhythm of the story, the cuts, graphics, the use of text and transitions.

The directors, in episode order, are : Dylan Mohan Gray {The King of Good Times}; Johanna Hamilton {Diamonds Aren't Forever}, and Nick Read {The World's Biggest Family}. There is an absolute lack of fake dramatics in the stories. For the most part, they don't need any.

Modi, on the other hand, is loved by his employees. Coming from a family of Diamond vendors, Modi, mostly an introvert, turned his brand into a big show overnight, using the celebrity of international models, actors and actresses from Hollywood, Bollywood, South Korea and Hong Kong to expand his appeal.

He wanted to rub shoulders with the Cartiers of the world. His biggest con was the purposeful inflation of the cost of his diamonds, and bribery of bank's employees.

Like I said in the beginning, there is a cautionary life lesson here : the bad always go belly-up.

Modi, now in jail, is fighting extradition in England; Mallya, whose airplane is rotting in a graveyard of dilapidated planes, absconded from India. Today, he also fights the courts in England. Roy, 'a thorough patriot', came out of Indian jail after a few years, visibly old. His company has yet to pay his employees.

A quick Wikipedia search would give one the back stories of these uber-rich conmen. But watching the drama unfold is something else. Thrilling and thoroughly recommended.

The World Students Society thanks Review Authors Mohammad Kamran Jawaid.

With respectful dedication to Netflix, these Great Documentary Makers, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

''' Conmen - Convent '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

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