‘Making a film in India is a joy, finding theatres is traumatic’
Onir’s film Pine Cone is getting screened at the British Film Institute Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival later this month, and the filmmaker is elated. “I just hope this creates interest back home because ultimately it makes my country, my people and our communities proud,” says the 54-year-old, adding that tickets for day one of the two-day screening of the film, got sold out soon after the sale opened.
Onir adds that even if people think queer films have a limited audience, his job is to tell new stories. “Then it’s the job of distributors, exhibitors and platforms to figure out how it reaches out. Sometimes, it’s a little exhausting, trying to negotiate. Making it is a joy, but finding a theatre, especially in India, is always traumatic. Sometimes, I feel, I can make a film in the amount of money people spend buying candles and curtains!”
A semi-autobiographical film about a filmmaker’s journey over two decades and his growing cynicism about love amid the changing landscape of queer rights in India, has made
Audiences won’t change overnight. In India, people are still taking baby steps. ONIR, Filmmaker
waves on the international film festival circuit.
A pioneering voice in queer cinema in India, Onir looks back on how his 2005 film My Brother… Nikhil was labelled as being ahead of its time. And Pine Cone, too, is being called one. “Audiences won’t change overnight. In India, people are still taking baby steps. And my life, our queer life is not baby steps. Just like I, as an audience and as a gay man, can watch any film, even those who aren’t queer should be able to watch Pine Cone for its story, the beauty and journey of people. As an industry, it’s important to make all kinds of films,” he signs off, adding that his aim as a filmmaker has always been “to tell stories of people who are made to be invisible”.