Onir

Onir is an award-winning Indian director, producer, screenwriter and editor. He's one of the few openly gay directors in India. Born Anirban Dhar in Samchi, Bhutan, Onir spent much of his childhood going to the cinema. Onir is best known for his 2011 anthology film, I Am. The film dealt with single motherhood, child sexual abuse, displacement and LGBTQI rights. For I Am, Onir won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Feature Film.

He is also well known for his 2005 film My Brother...Nikhil, based on the life of Indian AIDS activist, Dominic D'Souza. It was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. In 2023, Onir released Pine Cone, a semi-autobiographical film that narrates the story of an proud filmmaker Sid Mehra falling in love for the first time and over two decades becoming cynical about love and the changing landscape of queer rights in India in the year 1999.

"I suddenly felt that I don't belong, until then I felt that I was a part of this group. Very often people say that it's important to have discourse, have discussions with people. I've spent my lifetime doing that, and at some point, you're exhausted in constantly trying to validate your identity. And now I'm at a point of life where I am like, it's your shortcoming. And it's not my job in life. It's not my duty, to spend my time, energy, effort to constantly educate people, about learning to respect someone else."

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