If you like learning about serial killers, scammers, cults, dodgy doctors, tech fraudsters, fake millionaires, Tiger Kings and the unbelievable clusterfuck that was FyreFest, then Netflix has got you covered with a host of documentaries. Trouble is they are not all gold, and don’t all lend themselves to the format. A good story does not equal a good documentary, such is the case with Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare.
This is the incredible tale of a young woman, Kirat, from the South Asian community living in London who meets a man named Bobby via Facebook. Bobby knows members of Kirat’s family and though the two of them have only met in person once and very briefly, they forge a powerful bond online that lasts many years. But obviously they don’t, as the title of the film indicates.
This story was originally told on a podcast called Sweet Bobby from Tortoise Media – it’s a great podcast told over six episodes with Kirat’s story unfolding guided by excellent host Alexi Mostrous. This is an absolutely wild tale (which we won’t spoil), involving a monumental amount of work and multiple threads, with an unbelievable and actually pretty sad outcome that affected Kirat’s life.
We’d highly recommend the podcast. If you’ve heard it already you very much don’t need to bother with the Netflix effort. A feature length doc running at 1 hr 22, the show really doesn’t cover any significant ground not in the podcast, other than letting us meet some of the people involved in the flesh.
