Industry diktats turn interesting talent into copycats:Dibakar

Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee says concentrating on what works and what does not in Bollywood often destroys interesting talents, turning them into "copycats."
Dibakar, who attended 'Half Ticket Young Adult Script Writing Workshop'at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival with Star, said interacting with kids with "fresh" story ideas made him realise how mundane one's perspective becomes when he or she joins the industry.
"Sitting with kids, I realised that most of us know the basic grammar of storytelling and actually it is the influences of the film industry telling you what should happen, what should not happen, what sells and what doesn't sell, which starts the destruction of interesting talents into boring copycats," the 47-year-old filmmaker told PTI.

"These kids didn't know anything. They came up with very interesting, insightful premises and stories. We keep talking about diversity, but one thing that every human being on the planet is same in, is how he tells his story," he said.
The 'Half ticket' section at the festival will present an exciting slate of 28 films from across the world, including fiction, non-fiction and animation.
When asked if the reason why producers shy away from making films on children is due to lack of monetary returns, Dibakar said, "It is one of the reasons. But there would have to be reasons why they think like that...I think the number of children's films in a society depends on how much importance the society gives to the children."

'Half Ticket' showcases 13 features and 15 shorts, with the jury comprising 7 children aged 9 to 17 years from across Mumbai.
On the work front, Dibakar said he has almost finished writing his next. The filmmaker, however, makes it clear that it is not the much-anticipated sequel to "Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!"
"I am not writing 'Byomkesh Bakshy 2' now. The plan was always to make one film and then got the sequel. Now, I am writing a film. I've almost finished writing it. But I can't divulge the genre," he said.