Onir opens up about society’s perception of relationships, sexuality
Filmmaker Onir says he was in relationships in the past where he was open but his significant other was not comfortable. And that, he feels, “might be because the person had a fear of being seen with me and being assumed that they are also gay,” he said.
Onir was speaking to actor-director Nandita Das at an event. During the conversation, he opened up about society’s perception of relationships and sexuality.
“When I watched Call Me by Your Name (an Academy Award-winning film that takes the audience through a sweet summer romance between two individuals of the same sex), I was talking to someone who is also a director about the LGBTQ subject. That person — someone who’s respectable for the work — exclaimed and said, ‘I am not sure how I can deal or if I can understand the emotion right.’ I was like, ‘Why?’, I mean, if a gay person can understand what it is to make films in all kinds of relationships, how come you are so scared to think what a gay person would know.
“So, when I was watching Call Me by Your Name, I was not really looking out at this gay relationship, I was looking at two people, who connected. A much younger guy and a much older guy and a connection that was not just physical and for me, that was beautiful for me.
It is very often, unfortunately, gay relationships are seen as only physical. Be the whole fight with article 377,” he said.
The maker of films such as Shab, Chauranga, Bas Ek Pal and My Brother... Nikhil, says that “people even on Twitter put up that sex is not meant for recreation but for procreation”, adding, “...but when one sees a film like this one, you are able to understand the connection that we speak about it not just of body but of two souls,” he said.
When one sees a film like Call Me by Your Name, you are able to understand the connection that we speak about it not just of body but of two souls. [It’s about] a younger guy, a much older guy and a connection that was not just physical and for me, [but] beautiful.
ONIR FILMMAKER