Dibakar Banerjee on stalled release of 'Tees': It’s bizarre that I’m living out my film

Chandigarh: Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee says he is not quite sure whether he should feel good or bad that he is bizarrely living out the story of his film “Tees”, which he has been showcasing around festivals after its release was shelved by Netflix.

The movie, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Manisha Koirala, Huma Qureshi, Shashank Arora, Neeraj Kabi and Divya Dutta, was screened to a packed theatre at the second edition of the Cinevesture International Film Festival here on Saturday.

Known for acclaimed films such as his 2006 debut “Khosla Ka Ghosla”, “Oye Lucky Lucky Oye!”, “Shanghai”, “LSD” and “Sandeep Aur Pinky Farar”, Banerjee begins “Tees”his film in a near future when a writer’s book is rejected for publication by a government commission.

“I could foresee many things, but I could not foresee that after such a tremendous time making ‘Tees’ with Netflix, it would not be released. This was made with a fond dream that after 16-17 years of ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, here’s the next.

“But that fond dream has turned into a very fond nightmare. In a way, I don’t know whether to feel bad or good that I’m living out the story of my film. It’s a bizarre feeling,” Banerjee, 55, told PTI in an interview.

“Tees” also interweaves the story of a Kashmiri Muslim woman in the year 1989 and how her friendship with her Kashmiri Pandit friend and neighbour is tested by what’s happening in the Valley at the time. Another story, set in the film's present timeline of 2018, revolves around a woman’s struggle to buy a house in Mumbai because of her name.

Originally titled “Freedom”, the release of the film was put on hold by the streamer in the wake of the controversy surrounding Prime Video series “Tandav”.

While he felt down by the movie’s release being stalled, Banerjee said he was surprised to see reality and fiction merge into one.

“A senior filmmaker told me, 'If it’s happening to you that means you must be doing something meaningful',” he recalled, adding that the film suffered because “we are self-censoring and trying to curtail our thoughts, meanings and the structures of our mind to survive”.

According to the director, there is nothing not worth seeing in the movie but he comes from a certain value system. Those “scared to release the film” are worried about cases being filed against them, he added.

“People make movies for money and fame. Nobody wants police cases and court cases against them.” Banerjee, who along with fellow filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap brought about a change in the industry with his stories, said when the release of “Tees” was stalled, he went into a “deep dark hole”.

“I have a little more money than the average Indian, so, I went into therapy and I came out of it (the hole). There is immense sadness and grieving over the film not being released but if you are mentally okay, then you understand that everything is not about you.

“You get into other things, like your next film, and you start again. You know that the kind of films you are making, there won’t be any takers for it... It is exactly like ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’.” The story of “Tees”, Banerjee said, began with the idea to make a Hindi film about a middle-class family as he felt that would resonate with everyone as most of the Indians have grown in a certain way.

“That’s where we get to know that we are one whether it is a family in Srinagar, or Chandigarh. They may wear different clothes, eat different food, but there are certain things that are similar. I wanted us to see an Indian family, which is a Kashmiri family… “Families in Kashmir are just like any other middle-class families in India. But there is militancy and other things in Kashmir because it is a border region. I know so many Kashmiris who are spread all over the country. Whether they were Kashmiri Pandits or Muslims, they left Kashmir because of the prevailing conditions, and my film talks about both of them.” The film also depicts how humans are struggling with usual problems like clean air, despite technical advancement which has only deepened the faultlines in society.

Banerjee, who calls himself a geek and someone very comfortable with the tech age, said he used artificial intelligence to make sequences in his last release “LSD 2”. He considers his debut film “Khosla Ka Ghosla” a little more palatable because it was a story told within the structures of a family and patriarchy.

But he is not the same person anymore, he said.

“My only motto is that you should not be used to one system and rather keep changing. If you don’t change, you won’t be able to move forward. By changing, I realise that I am putting my career at a risk.

“I am making myself a little more unpalatable in a world where all you need is a convenient taste, rather than something to think about. I am not just trying to entertain, I am trying to engage, shake up and make people think about things after the film is over.

Whoever has watched "Tees", the director said, has "stayed with them for a long time".

"That’s what I want but perhaps the social system we are living in is not willing to encourage it because it understands that if people start thinking, there will be a problem for oligarchy, late-stage capitalism, state repression and dictatorship. Which is why distraction and shortening attention span is something that filmmakers like us have to fight against,” he said.

Citing the example of a soldier he interviewed years ago, Banerjee said the soldier had fought in different war zones and was kind of used to such situations.

“That’s what has happened to me. I am used to fighting now and I am open about it now. But you have to do it without being cynical or taking away the love for people,” he added.

After going through a dark period, the filmmaker said he was able to come out of it by staying connected to people close to him.

"My first community is my family, next my relatives, friends, work people, colleagues, journalists, cinephiles or just a city in India. If you do not connect socially and do not see every person with respect, then you are at risk of isolating yourself. And once you are isolated and forget that you are social animals, then it's easy for dictators, oligarchs and business magnets to control us," he said.

Banerjee said he is now busy writing his next films.

"It is like starting all over again. I am the luckiest b*****d because I don’t see many filmmakers at my age who are starting all over again. And that’s a brilliant leg up if you are not caught in your own legacy."