The Fourteenth Edition of Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest
Wednesday, October 25th to Sunday, October 29th 2023

Online : 25 - 26 Oct
On ground : 27 - 29 Oct

Onir

Film-maker, India

Onir is an Indian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor.

Born as Anirban Dhar in Samchi, Bhutan, Onir studied comparative literature from Jadavpur University in 1989, he received a scholarship to study film editing at SFB/TTC in Berlin. He later returned to India and worked as an editor, scriptwriter, art director, music album producer and song/music video director.

He is best known for his film My Brother…Nikhil, based on the life of Dominic D’Souza, starring Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla and Purab Kohli. It was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships.

He won the Indian National Film awards for Best Film (Hindi) for the anthology I AM in 2011. I AM is considered as one of the first and largest crowd funded and crowd sourced film through social media in India. The film dealt with single motherhood, child sexual abuse, displacement and LGBTQI rights.

He directed Bas Ek Pal (2006) , Sorry Bhai (2008), Raising The Bar ( Feature length documentary 2015), Shab (2017), Widows Of Vrindavan ( short Documentary 2018)

His last release was Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz (2018) .

Onir has received the Likho Award in 2018, the Diversity Award from Film Victoria Australia and La Trobe University at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2019 and the Engendered Spirit of Independent Cinema Award 2020 at the Engendered Human Rights Film Festival in Delhi.

In June 2022, Onir finished shooting, PINE CONE, a queer love story . It is loosely based on Onir’s memoir; I Am Onir and I Am Gay which he has co-written with his sister Irene Dhar Malik and published by Penguin Viking. Onir is also planning a sequel to his 2011 film I AM, named WE ARE, production will start soon.

sessions

Lost and Found

  • 12th November
  • 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

The importance of being me
Mallika Sarabhai, Onir
Chair: Inakshi Sobti

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