'It's ironic that people celebrate my films during Pride Month but they won’t support my new work'
Ahead of the release of his memoir later this month, National Award-winning filmmaker Onir talks about identity, his journey and why LGBTQIA+ representation in films still has a long way to go
When it was released in 2005, Onir’s debut film My Brother… Nikhil, inspired by the life of Dominic D’Souza, reportedly the first-known HIV-positive person in India, broke new ground. Onir, whose anthology I Am (2010), bagged the National Award for Best Hindi Film, went on to make Bas Ek Pal (2006), Sorry Bhai! (2008), Shab (2017) and Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz (2018).
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One of the most outspoken voices in the industry, the 53-year-old’s memoir, I Am Onir and I am Gay (Penguin Random House India), to be released this month, co-written with his sister Irene Dhar Malik, gives an intimate view of his journey, capturing his failings while celebrating the impact of his work in normalising queer discourses. “Revisiting these experiences by writing about them helps understand the same journey better,” he says. Excerpts from an interview:
Your yet-to-be-released memoir contains two primary narratives — your journey as a filmmaker in an industry where you were an outsider and your experiences as a queer person.
These are the two important aspects of my life. One is about making movies and the other is linked to my identity, to my sexuality. I have always been a voice in the public space. I write about living through the time when homosexuality was criminalised and then decriminalised. When I was growing up, there were hardly any queer voices. Youngsters need voices. I thought my story might help them. My journey might have been different if I had references when I was in school or college.
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