Dibakar Banerjee says Netflix has cancelled the release of his film Tees, blames Tandav controversy for giving streamer cold feet

In an interview with Deadline, Banerjee said that Tees (previously titled Freedom) isn’t even that political, and that he is unable to screen it at festivals because Netflix barred him from doing so, but the streamer has allowed him to distribute links of the film to potential buyers. “Netflix has never given me any other reason except they don’t know if this is the right time to release the film,” Banerjee told Deadline. “Given what happened with Tandav, the only conclusion to reach is that Netflix is reluctant to release the film out of fear of being similarly targeted. But the film I have made is very different to the web series in question.”

Banerjee added, “It’s not about any incendiary incidents – it’s about the daily life of an average middle-class urban family over three generations. But now my story is becoming eerily similar to one of the protagonists in the film. I also believe this is my best film to date. Although it has universal themes, it was made for an audience that remembers my other films, and is attuned to watching a film made by me, so it saddens me that they won’t be able to see it.”

This is not the first time that Tandav has been invoked as a tipping point for the Indian streaming industry. The political drama ran into serious trouble a couple of years ago, with Prime Video agreeing to make changes to a controversial scene. In a recent interview with The Lallantop, Anurag Kashyap spoke about the behind-the-scenes changes that have taken place in the industry since the Tandav fiasco. He said about Maximum City, “Netflix was supposed to do it earlier, but they aren’t doing it any more. The project had been green-lit, but a lot has changed since then on streaming. Lots of projects have stalled, like Paatal Lok season two… There have been leadership changes and policy changes at streaming companies. There was a show called Gormint which never came out. A lot has changed, and we’ve suffered because of it, on health and otherwise.”

Banerjee has previously collaborated with Netflix on the anthology films Lust Stories and Ghost Stories. He is best known for comedies such as Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. His last release was Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar.