Cobalt Blue: Here's why Netflix India dropped director Sachin Kundalkar's name from the credit roll

Cobalt Blue, directed by Sachin Kundalkar and starring Prateik Babbar and Neelay Mehendale, was released on Netflix last week without the usual promotional blitz. The film is an adaptation of Kundalkar's 2006 Marathi novel of the same name, but does not feature the director's name on the credit roll or anywhere else in the distribution material, which is a curious turn of events. 

Further investigation by Mid Day revealed that Kundalkar was reportedly asked to leave the project by Netflix India in March following sexual assault charges against him.

A source told the tabloid that the OTT behemoth commissioned the gay love story in 2018, and the film was completed by 2021. They further revealed that in late 2021, a crew member filed a complaint with the platform, alleging sexual abuse by the director after the film was completed. 

The OTT platform's senior brass quickly formed an internal committee to probe the situation. The trailer was released in November 2021, in the thick of all of this. However, because the platform was undecided about the project, it was constantly postponed. After a thorough inquiry, it was determined that Kundalkar would not be affiliated with the offering, and his name was removed from the initiative.

In Cobalt Blue, the ensuing events disrupt their traditional family as an ambitious novelist and his free-spirited sister both fall for the intriguing paying visitor at their home.

In the novel, written by Kundalkar, a paying visitor appears to be a win-win situation for the Joshi family. He has the rent ready, is willing to help when he can, and is willing to listen to Mrs. Joshi's lecture on our culture's impending downfall. He is, nonetheless, a man of intrigue. He doesn't have a surname. He has no family, no friends, no past, and no future ambitions. Tanay and Anuja, his siblings, are enamoured with him. He upends their lives and crushes their hearts when he vanishes. Cobalt Blue is an elegantly crafted and breathtakingly sparse narrative of ecstatic love and searing heartbreak recounted with tenderness and unflinching clarity.