Has Netflix Muffled The Hiss Of the Serpent?

The Netflix Original film Charles: The Serpent covers the notorious life of the infamous cold blooded killer Charles Sobhraj who left a trail of heinous murders across Thailand, Nepal and India. Sumita Chakraborty wonders why key details of Charles Sobhraj’s life especially pertaining to India and Nepal was omitted or changed in this Netflix Original?

- Sumita Chakraborty

He was called the bikini killer and his trail of crime included the murder of 24 hitchhikers across India, Nepal and Thailand. Nicknamed as the ‘Serpent because he always evaded being captured, he was the infamous serial killer Charles Sobhraj whose trail of crimes spanned South East Asia.

Filmed!

Recently, OTT platform Netflix released a film on this man called Charles Sobhraj, The Serpent, which was an eight-part limited series starring the dynamic Tahar Rahim as the sinister Charles and Jenna Coleman as his accomplice Marie-Andrèe Leclerc. Indeed, it was extremely engrossing, well-made and slick, however to the disappointment of people in the know, supposedly, there were quite a few key details left out of the show more so pertaining to India and Nepal.

For instance, many in India recall a famous anecdote of how Charles Sobhraj was apprehended at the O Coqueiro restaurant in Goa - a popular hangout frequented by both foreigners and Indians - by the famous Inspector Madhukar Zende, Supposedly, Zende who had arrested Charles Sobhraj once before in 1971 was given the task to capture him again after Sobhraj broke out of the high security Tihar Jail where he was serving a 12-year sentence for allegedly poisoning and robbing a group of French tourists.

Tale Sale

It was a story much told. Supposedly, the dashing Inspector Zende lay in wait for Charles Sobhraj at