Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee spoke about diving into the world of social media content creation and algorithm manipulation while conducting research for his new film, LSD 2. In an interview, the filmmaker said the internet is controlled by ‘the oligarchy’ and ‘IT cells’, as he revealed how he was able to manipulate his social media algorithm into believing that he’s a ‘Hindu nationalist’.
Appearing on the Dostcast podcast, Dibakar also claimed that there is nothing controversial about LSD 2, because it doesn’t touch on religious conflict, or engage in bashing either India or Pakistan. “It’s not very edgy or bold; there’s no Hindu-Muslim stuff, I’m not bashing Pakistan. Nor am I bashing India,” he said, adding that the process of directing the film nearly pushed him to the verge of quitting filmmaking altogether. “But I am too addicted, I am an addict,” he said.
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Opening up about his research into the world of online content creators, Dibakar claimed to not be on social media himself. He said, “One cool thing about the internet is that you can start in one place, and end up in an entirely different place altogether. You begin to understand the algorithm. The algorithm wants to understand your fetish, what your darkest secrets are, what kind of faces are you drawn to. Do you like Africans, Hispanics, Asians, Indians? The algorithm knows. It’ll keep showing you blue-eyed girls if that’s what you’re into.”
After experimenting with this, Dibakar tricked his algorithm into thinking that he is a different person entirely. “Gradually, over time, I fooled my algorithm. Maine usse yeh jata diya ke main Hindu rashtravaadi right-winger hoon (I convinced it that I am a right-wing Hindu nationalist). And now I know everything that’s going on that side. The most dangerous people are the fence-sitters, they’re just waiting to pounce on people,” he said, adding that he has put all this research into the film.
Starring a cast of newcomers, LSD 2 will be released in theatres on April 19. The film comes over a decade after the first LSD, which rode a wave of controversy to modest box office success and launched the careers of Rajkummar Rao and Nushrratt Bharuccha.
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