Even today, a woman will add the surname of her husband but a man does not add the name of the wife. Dropping my surname made me aware of patriarchy.
How did Antigonus become Onir? I actually decided to name myself. Whenever I approach a studio or platform with a film, they say “oh, but we are taking baby steps.” I feel, somewhere, there is still resistance and people say: “oh, this is too much.” How can my life be “too much”? Speaking of baby steps, you’ve had a long history of names. And they are told from a very heteronormative perspective. There are hardly two or three mainstream films with queer narratives every year.
Ahead of his soon-to-release memoir ‘I am Onir And I am Gay’, the 53-year-old filmmaker talks to Sharmila Ganesan Ram about why he wanted to claim his identity without shame Has anything changed in terms of representation for the LGBTQIA+ community post decriminalisation of section 377 in 2018? In certain sectors yes, but not in films. In 2022, the defence ministry rejected his film ‘We Are’ which was based on the life of a gay army major. In 2005, many men walked out of theatres screening Onir’s film ‘My Brother Nikhil ’ on finding out that the lead character is gay.
