Onir Reflects on Pine Cone, Queer Cinema, and His Trailblazing Journey

Pine Cone came out in 2023, but it wasn't until June 2024 that the film's influence on discourse reached Calcutta. Following the movie's showing at The American Center, Lord of the Drinks in South City Mall threw an afterparty. On the fringes of the afterparty, I struck up a conversation with the man of the moment, director Anirban Dhar, also known as Onir. With his powerful debut film My Brother Nikhil, which addressed the prevalent sexual health issues among the LGBT community, Onir quickly gained notoriety. His previous films, Chauranga, Shab, Kuch Bheege Alfaaz, and I Am, have received positive reviews from critics worldwide. Onir has been a true trailblazer and artistic pathbreaker for two decades, having started as the first filmmaker in Indian history to make a well-known LGBT film with delicate subjects.

Pine Cone follows filmmaker Sid Mehra (Hanun Bawra), who is partially based on Onir's life, as he navigates life as a homosexual man from 1999 to 2019, a year after homosexuality was finally decriminalized. The film has also been screened at the esteemed BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+Film Festival. A few quotes from our discussion with Onir while enjoying cocktails...

Best wishes! Pine Cone is receiving a lot of affection from your hometown, too, after receiving so much attention from around the world. What do you think about this?

After receiving the response, I'm feeling pleased. That the movie has finally made it to Calcutta makes me delighted. But I was deeply disappointed because Pine Cone took a whole year to arrive in Calcutta. With the project, I have been traveling a lot. Although the attention from around the world is undoubtedly humble, Pine Cone has had special screenings in a number of Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Chandigarh, but not in Calcutta. My Brother Nikhil has been re-released and is currently showing in eight places, but once more, not in Calcutta! This is another realization.

You have been producing LGBT-themed movies even before Section 377 was decriminalized. Does Onir need courage to do the movies that he does?

It's not about guts, in my opinion. Whether it's the first major queer film, My Brother Nikhil, or the more recent one, Pine Cone, it's always about me because I'm talking about myself. I never consider my films to be brave or daring in any way. In my films, the other side is the problem and there is a discussion. Why can't you embrace my identity because yours and the so-called society are so brittle? In all of your realities, I accept you just as you are.

"We were talking about this just today at the Pine Cone screening at The American Center. When International Pride Month occurs and there are all these events and appreciation, people say that they are doing it for the community but I say that you are doing it for yourself," he said, flashing that signature smile of his. You have to learn to accept me, which is really easy, but you can do it since we accept you, your happiness, and everything about you from childhood. I don't know why accepting my life is so difficult for me. Because of this, I also wanted to communicate desire and highlight a part of queerness that isn't typically seen on Indian screens when I was filming Pine Cone. I want heterosexual people to see Pine Cone and experience the same thrill I do, more than I do for the queer community.

Every time someone opened the door, the loud music inside Lord Of The Drinks would seep out into the lounge area where we were sitting. It made no difference. As Onir, dressed elegantly in black, sat down next to me with his spectacles resting on the table, we discussed the power of his expression and his personal growth. "I find that women especially, wherever I have screened, identify much more with the storyline and soul of Pine Cone... so many of them have came up to me and said: "We could feel what you were depicting in the picture," the director remarked in reference to the response Pine Cone has gotten. We are all combating patriarchy, in a sense. I have consistently used the example of how the struggle to end gender-based discrimination took hundreds of years, and that it is still ongoing! Our road has only just begun. After all, I doubt that I will ever see what it's like to be treated equally as a citizen of this nation in my lifetime. What did I do to deserve this? It's so unfair.

A glimmer of melancholy can be seen in his eyes through his plain glasses. "My brother is the dean at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Bengaluru, where I was recently present for the Pine Cone screening. Thus, when he and his students were present, it occurred to me that we were both born into the same family and that, despite our objections, we were forced to participate in sports. I was superior, I thought to myself. He and my sister both realized at one point in our childhood that they were straight, whereas I accepted my homosexuality. I consider myself really lucky that my parents accepted all three of us. They made it very apparent that just as they avoided talking to my brother because he was straight, they avoided talking to me because I am gay. Furthermore, they consistently state that they are happier than the others when they live with me.

Keeping his cool, he takes a sip of his drink and tells the tale of his life—this time, not via a movie. As I witness my siblings leading contented lives and raising their children, I am compelled to believe that, like millions of other Indians, I would be in trouble if I engaged in the same routine activities.

People who identify as queer are denied basic rights, such as the ability to legally marry.

Yes, we joyfully attend all the events that the straight community hosts, including weddings, anniversaries, and other events. Could they please do it for us? Our society's very fiber is what always encourages me to tell stories and express myself.

What was your experience like during the process of self-discovery?

Whoa! It took me a very long time (laughs). There was no representation during the years I was growing up. I was infatuated with girls all the time, even in college! Although I was also drawn to boys, I didn't view this as an identity per se; rather, I saw it as a fact of life. I never realized that s**t that was me till I saw the 1985 movie My Beautiful Laundrette at Jadavpur University! That is the cinema's power.

"That's when I felt that these are the stories I need to tell so that the next generation can watch our films and relate more while also feeling understood," a grinning Onir continued. My goal is for my films to convey the sense that real people with real tales have lives that are meaningful and not just gags.

One description of Pine Cone is semi-autobiographical. To the best of our knowledge, Sid's persona is Onir, starting with his upbeat parents, his outlook on life, and his potential to be Derek's mentor. Take us through the ideation process of putting a segment of your story on film.

I therefore wrote Sid as myself in the first draft before realizing it was too similar. I then brought in a writer, and everything in the movie that occurs after the first night is made up. Actually, everything that takes place in the movie up until the first night took place in Calcutta in 2019.

I ask him if the actual Derek is aware that the movie is about him out of curiosity, and he says, "I don't know, he has gone off to Canada," in a depressing way. It affected me a lot since I was like a boulder to him. But because I intended the movie to have a hopeful message, which is why the plot has been made up after the first night. Additionally, my writer thought that the movie ought to end on a positive tone.

Why is it called Pine Cone?

He gave me a pine cone, which I still keep at home. Of course, that's how I called the movie.

That tiny pine cone was only ever yours, but it suddenly belonged to a great number of people. How does the feeling of attention feel on a national and global level?

To be honest, the BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival took me by surprise. Two of the screenings that they had previously discussed were sold out, so a third showing was scheduled. Furthermore, they did not take me straight to the hall when I got there because they wanted my appearance to be unexpected. "Why do you think it is so popular?" I asked. In any case, the majority of those who would like to see the movie are South Asians. There were 450 seats in the crowded theater, 80 percent of whom were White, as I walked in. It was strange how they expressed how the movie resonated with them, particularly the older crowd.

Give us some background on the casting...

We set up the auditions online because they were held after COVID-19. There was intimacy, which presented a problem. Thus, even though many people joined, they would eventually withdraw due to various reasons, including limitations in their families. They would genuinely say that their family would accept it if they kissed a female on film, but not a boy. When my first choice withdrew, stating, "Ma Baba, bolche korte na," Hanun was cast at the last minute. Before, Hanun (Bawra) was a member of my social media team. One day, I observed that he had shaved off his beard. I expressed to Hanun during our conversation that I hoped he wouldn't have any issues with his folks in Kashmir. I vividly remember him saying, "I would rather explore myself as an artiste and kiss a man because if I kiss a woman, it will also be a problem in Kashmir mein toh."

What distinguishes Pine Cone from Onir's earlier films?

It seems to me that the movie celebrates queerness unfiltered and was made with a queer perspective.

Was the entire film shot on an iPhone, so much so that it didn't have any filters?

Yes, downloading every night after filming is crucial! (laughs)

How do you feel about producing movies with heterosexual leads?

To be honest, I don't have any queer characters in most of my films. Five of the eight films I have directed are stories of heterosexual love. For example, my most recent film, Kuch Bheege Alfaaz, which tells the tale of a man and a woman in love, was filmed in Calcutta.

The theme of your most notable films is the queer gaze.

Yes, considering how few films already feature the gay gaze in a nation like India. Thus, that has drawn some attention from around the world.

For you, what does pride mean?

It means advocating for all marginalized communities, not just the LGBT community. All four pieces deal with various forms of marginalized groups, just like my film I Am does. In contrast, another narrative focused on Manisha and the political context of Kashmir, or Nandita Das, a single mother. To me, pride consists of bravely standing up for all marginalized populations; it is not a trade-off. I refuse to keep quiet about what I believe to be immoral because how can my integrity be traded off?

What does the future appear to hold? What is the next course of action?

All of my life savings and all I have ever earned are going into the next movie I am working on. It was filmed in Kashmir, and I've also started a conversation on queerness there. For present, I am unable to provide more details regarding the project.

He turns to face the now-deserted South City Mall food court corridors and remarks, "I have overcome so many obstacles in my life that I am accustomed to it and I don't think much about it. I carry out my obligations. Making films is my life, my voice, and my identity. If given the option, I would never take a flat instead of making the movie that people tell me not to do. Who is going to utilize the apartment when I'm not around? The movie will still be here. Upon their re-publication I had mothers tell me, in tears, that they realized how much time they had lost not accepting their sons, when my brother Nikhil was in Delhi. I keep continuing because of just one comment. "I am tired of people saying that my films are ahead of their time," he said in closing. "You're behind schedule, I say!"

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.