Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee Faced Depression After Netflix Shelved His Film Tees

Dibakar Banerjee is a well-known filmmaker famous for cult classic movies like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Ghost Stories and more. However, one of his recent developments attracted a lot of controversy. Lust Stories director had created a film titled Tees for Netflix in 2021, but the platform ultimately shelved it. Banerjee has now spoken openly about the conflict surrounding that time.

Dibakar Banerjee’s Tees finally screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival

Tees has been in limbo for a few years, ever since Netflix pulled the plug on it in 2021. This year, the film was screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, sparking hopes for a wider release in 2025. Originally developed for Netflix in 2020-21, the project was dropped after leadership changes at the streaming platform. 

Despite this, director Dibakar acknowledged Netflix’s support during production, noting that his team had already self-censored much of the content. Tees span three generations of an Indian family, starting in the 1980s and concluding in 2042.

Dibakar Banerjee went through 'anger, frustration, depression' when Netflix shelved his film

While speaking with Moneycontrol, Dibakar Banerjee addressed the time when Netflix had shelved the film. He said, “I went through anger, frustration, depression and at that time, I couldn’t tell. But both my daughters kept saying ‘papa, you are always angry’. After that, I started therapy, and I was fine.”.

Dibakar Banerjee doesn't hold it against the streamer

Dibakar stated that he doesn't blame Netflix executives for withdrawing, especially after the challenges faced by Amazon Prime Video executives, who received death threats and legal cases over the controversial series Tandav. He explained, "When executives face legal threats, death threats, online trolling, or are forced to spend ₹20-30 lakh on lawyers due to political cases, it's natural for them to feel intimidated, leading to self-censorship."

The film Tees stars Manisha Koirala, Divya Dutta, Naseeruddin Shah, Huma Qureshi, Shashank Arora, Zoya Hussain, and Neeraj Kabi. Dibakar has mentioned that he is actively seeking potential buyers for the film to secure a release, but there has been no update regarding its launch yet.