Netflix sidelines Cobalt Blue director amid sexual abuse allegations

If you have seen Cobalt Blue on Netflix, you would have realised that it had no director’s name attached to it. Why? As per reports, Netflix India had asked director Sachin Kundalkar to stay away from the project amid sexual abuse allegations.

Kundalkar, who is a well-known Marathi filmmaker, was accused of sexual misconduct by a crew member in 2021. The top brass at Netflix India had asked the director to stay away from the project in March. His name has been removed from the film’s credit because of the allegations.

Sharing more details, a source tells a publication, “After the film’s completion, a crew member, in late 2021, had complained to the platform, alleging sexual abuse by the director. The top brass of the OTT platform promptly set up an internal committee that investigated the matter. In the midst of this, the trailer was dropped in November 2021. But since the platform was in two minds about the project, they repeatedly postponed its release. Finally, after a thorough investigation, it was decided that Kundalkar would in no way be associated with the offering, and the filmmaker’s credit was removed from the project.”

Cobalt Blue stars Neelay Mehendale, Prateik Babbar, and Neil Bhoopalam in lead roles.