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This is an archive article published on November 29, 2024
Dibakar Banerjee says he was ‘angry, frustrated, depressed’ after Netflix shelved Tees: ‘I am damaged and partially insane’
Dibakar Banerjee said that Netflix was supportive of Tees while making it, but later withdrew their support.
Dibakar Banerjee's Tees was shelved by Netflix. (Photo: DIFF)
Director Dibakar Banerjee’s unreleased film Tees, which was produced by Netflix, has been in limbo for a few years now. This year, the film was shown at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, and after the screening, Dibakar spoke about the streamer shelving the film despite having supported it throughout its production. The director said that he went through “anger, frustration and depression,” after the film was shelved, but claimed that he is fine now.
In a chat with Moneycontrol, Dibakar was asked how he felt when Netflix put a halt to the film’s release. He said, “I went through anger, frustration, depression and at that time, I couldn’t tell. But both my daughters kept saying that ‘papa, you are always angry’. After that, I started therapy, and I was fine.” He also discussed the making of the film, and how Netflix was supportive throughout it.
“Netflix was very helpful when the film was being made. There wasn’t even a single obstacle from their end, except for one little fight about casting. I won three of those fights about casting, and for one, I had to negotiate,” he said, and added that he had made a list of cuts and self-censored the film, but Netflix asked him to come from a “position of strength.” “Even after we made the film, we told them about the changes that we should make. We were self-censoring, so we made the list. Netflix said that you should come from a position of strength. After that, from what we know, Netflix’s entire team changed. And in all these corporate companies, when the teams change, the things approved by the old team are sometimes partially or completely shelved,” he shared.
Dibakar said that the Prime Video show Tandav was released somewhere around the same time, and the controversy the show faced also affected Tees’ future. “If you file a case against executives, or they have death threats against them, or troll them, or file a few non-bailable cases against them, push them into paying Rs 20-30 lakh to lawyers in political cases, they will get scared and people will start self-censoring,” he said.
Dibakar said that he hasn’t given up, and actually “enjoys fighting now.” “I have become an addict now. Now, I enjoy fighting,” he said. When asked if he saw himself “as an agent provocateur or a moralist,” he said that he sees himself “as damaged and partially insane”. “Until the time I see myself as crazy and blind, I won’t be able to see that I am a part of the society. As a society, we are now blind and crazy, and deaf. We can’t see what’s right in front of us. I call it the great project of unseeing, so I also started unseeing. My job is just to make the film in as less money as possible and get out,” he said.
Dibakar’s film Tees stars Manisha Koirala, Divya Dutta, Naseeruddin Shah, Huma Qureshi, Shashank Arora, Zoya Hussain, among others.
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