Love, sex & dibakar

Hismom won’t even speak out the name of his new movie, but that hasn’tdeterred Dibakar Banerjee from calling the digital flick Love, Sex Aur Dhokha.“Mom asked me, ‘Ki naam (What’s the name of the movie)?’I said, ‘Love, Sex Aur Dhokha’.
So, sheresponded, ‘Oh! Dhokha!?’” he laughs. Was the word‘sex’ used in the title to garner attention? “No, the filmhappened first and the title came later.Nothing we came up with described thefilm. So we just sat down and discussed what the movie’s about. It’sabout the youth, but you can’t name it that. And it’s about love,about sex, about betrayal and voyeurism. So we named it Love, Sex AurDhokha,” responds Dibakar.
LSD is being backed by EktaKapoor’s Balaji Telefilms, that hallowed portal of everything that is baa,saas, bahu and traditions. So, what was Ekta’s reaction after seeing thefilm? Dibakar replies, “I think she actually loved the story. She was notbothered about the sex content. Her concern was with the message and how we aretelling it. The treatment of the story is so new, so bold and so unseen that shereacted very violently during the first 10 minutes. But then she loved it laterbecause the movie is nothing like anybody has ever seen before. It’sun-filmy, un-cinematic, the camera is shaking – you really feel as if youare peeping into somebody’s bedroom. The camera behaves weirdly becauseit’s really small, and you feel that you actually are touchingsomeone’s body.” He goes on, “The movie is about love, as weare taught to think about it. It is about what has become news and entertainmentin our life, which is so voyeuristic – listening to other people’slives and how emotions like love and sex further our interest. Sex is not aboutsex anymore. Today, sex is a medium to an end, instead of being a way to expresslove or something done for pleasure. It’s a way of getting back, forrevenge, for fame, for ambition – it is about things that you get out ofsex. Sex has become a practical tool for us. That is what the film is about, howwe have made a business out of our emotions.”
Dibakar’searlier movies like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! have alwaysappropriated Delhi not as a city where the story is set, but as a characteritself in the movie. His portrayal is such that a Delhiite would have adifferent experience watching the movie, different from how a Mumbaiwallah or aKolkatawasi would interpret it. He explains, “There’s no consciouseffort here. I’m from Delhi and I try not to take the audience through aguided sight-seeing tour of Delhi. Instead, I’m trying to show theaudience a Delhi I grew up in.” Dibakar insists that his movies till datehave reflected what the city has made of him. “I am a Bengali but I grewup in Karol Bagh. I speak Haryanvi and Punjabi fluently. I’m an honoraryPunjabi and a freelance Jaat. Anybody who has travelled in DTC or Blueline busesin Delhi would know what Jaat humour is like. Anybody who has grown up in KarolBagh, gone to school in Rajender Nagar and has friends from East Patel Nagarwill know what Punjabis are like. It’s a fantastic experience. My identityis much bigger than my mother tongue. My life is much more unrestricted, thanksto the influence of three cultures. The more you become other people, the biggeryou become,” he reflects.
However, LSD, or Political Thriller,his next featuring Abhay Deol as a judge, is not set in Delhi. “LSD couldbe based anywhere in the world. It is universal. It looks gritty, shot from handcameras, spy cameras, underwater cameras, voyeuristic surveillance cameras– it looks very real, very unsettling and very provocative. Wearen’t questioning the settled grammar of movie-making, but we are tryingto break through,” finishes the maverick director.