MUTED MASTERPIECE

FILMMAKER DIBAKAR BANERJEE TALKS ABOUT HIS YET-UNRELEASED FILM TEES

- -Poulomi Das

It had all the makings of a triumph—an acclaimed director, a powerhouse cast, and a standing ovation at the film’s first Indian screening at the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) last year. Dibakar Banerjee’s Tees drew cinephiles from across the country. Yet, the celebration carried the weight of heartbreak. In 2023, Netflix— the platform that had commissioned Tees in 2019 and to whom Banerjee delivered it in 2022— had quietly pulled the plug on its release, effectively locking away a film that deserved to be seen.

Led by Naseeruddin Shah, Manisha Koirala, Huma Qureshi, Shashank Arora, Zoya Hussain and Divya Dutta in pivotal roles, the 55-year-old filmmaker's triptych of stories follows three generations of a Kashmiri Muslim family. Across three different timelines—political unrest in 1989 Srinagar, communal violence in 2030 and censorship in 2043—Tees unfolds as its protagonists grapple with their identity, voice and systemic excision in an increasingly dystopian India.

With the film’s commercial release in limbo, Banerjee spent the months since its DIFF premiere hosting private, non-ticketed screenings across India. Yet, it’s not something he has done by choice. “The screenings are a way of generating commercial and critical interest in the hope that somehow