Onir
Encyclopedia
Onir is an India
n film director
, editor, writer and producer
. He is best known for his film My Brother... Nikhil, one of the first mainstream Hindi film
s to deal with AIDS
and same-sex relationship
s.
, Bhutan
. His father Aparesh Dhar and mother are of Bengali
origin. Onir spent much of his childhood going to the cinema with his mother. In 1986 his family left Bhutan after the government made driglam namzha
, the Bhutanese national dress and etiquette code, mandatory. According to Onir, "I didn't want to be a second class Bhutanese citizen, I preferred to be Indian citizen." Earlier, Aparesh Dhar had resigned from his position as a school principal when his Nepalese
students were removed and arrested (they were later found dead). In Kolkata
, Onir studied comparative literature
and took a few film classes at Chitrabani film school. He graduated from Jadavpur University
in 1989, but left before getting his post-graduate degree when he received a scholarship to study films in Berlin
. He later returned to India and worked as an editor for music videos and films like Bhoot
and Rahul
. He also served as an assistant to Kalpana Lajmi on Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence
(2001) where he had his first experience directing a full-length feature film.
It was while working on a Plus documentary about Dominic D'Souza, a champion swimmer and AIDS
patient in Goa
, that Onir conceived the idea for his first film. His directorial debut, My Brother... Nikhil (2005), deals with the Goan government's harsh treatment of AIDS
patients in the 1980s and the stigma attached to them. My Brother... Nikhil was screened at several international film festivals and Juhi Chawla
received an IIFA nomination for her role as the main character's supportive sister.
In 2006 he released his second film Bas Ek Pal
with Urmila Matondkar
, Sanjay Suri
and Jimmy Shergill
. He received a nomination for the Best Director Critic's Award at the Global Indian Film Awards
for the film. It was not a financial success, only collecting 15-20 percent at the box office. His next film Sorry Bhai!
also failed to do well as it released the week of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai
.
Onir's latest film is I Am
which consists of four short films exploring such themes as child abuse and same-sex relationships. The film was awarded the 2008/9 Triangle Media Group Honorary Award on 7 February 2010 and won Best Film awards at both the London Asian Film Festival and the River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival
. In February 2011 Onir served as a panelist at I2IT
's annual technology and management fest Dhruv 2011, discussing 'Cinema and Youth'. Onir has mentioned in interviews that his next project will be an urban adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet
. Together with Sanjay Suri he has started Anticlock Films, a production company that will concentrate on promoting young directors. Ashwini Malik's Kill Chhabra and Bikas Ranjan Mishra's Chauranga will be its next films.
and winner of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology. His sister Irene Dhar Malik is a film and television editor. Onir is an atheist. He can speak Bengali
, Russia
n, German
and Tamil
. His favourite film directors are Ritwik Ghatak, Satyajit Ray
, Luis Buñuel
and Andrei Tarkovsky
while he cites Shyam Benegal
’s Junoon
as the reason he became a filmmaker. He is also one of the few openly gay directors in Bollywood
.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, editor, writer and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He is best known for his film My Brother... Nikhil, one of the first mainstream Hindi film
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
s to deal with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and same-sex relationship
Same-sex relationship
A same-sex relationship is a relationship between two persons of the same sex and can take many forms, from romantic and sexual, to non-romantic close relationships. The term is mainly associated with gay and lesbian people...
s.
Life and career
He was born as Anirban Dhar in ThimphuThimphu
Thimphu also spelt Thimpu, is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's dzongkhags, the Thimphu District. The city became the capital of Bhutan in 1961...
, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
. His father Aparesh Dhar and mother are of Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
origin. Onir spent much of his childhood going to the cinema with his mother. In 1986 his family left Bhutan after the government made driglam namzha
Driglam namzha
The Driglam Namzha is the official behaviour and dress code of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It governs how citizens should dress in public and how they should behave in formal settings. It also regulates a number of cultural assets such as art and architecture...
, the Bhutanese national dress and etiquette code, mandatory. According to Onir, "I didn't want to be a second class Bhutanese citizen, I preferred to be Indian citizen." Earlier, Aparesh Dhar had resigned from his position as a school principal when his Nepalese
Lhotshampa
Lhotshampa, or Lhotsampa, means "southerners" in Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. The term refers to the heterogeneous ethnic Nepalese population of Bhutan.-History:...
students were removed and arrested (they were later found dead). In Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, Onir studied comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
and took a few film classes at Chitrabani film school. He graduated from Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University , is a premier educational and research institution in India.It is located in Kolkata, West Bengal and comprises two campuses - the main campus at Jadavpur and the new campus at Salt Lake...
in 1989, but left before getting his post-graduate degree when he received a scholarship to study films in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He later returned to India and worked as an editor for music videos and films like Bhoot
Bhoot
Bhoot is a Bollywood ghost movie released in 2003. It was directed by Ram Gopal Varma and stars Ajay Devgan and Urmila Matondkar. It was perceived to be different from a typical Bollywood movie as it did not contain songs. The film did average business at the box office...
and Rahul
Rahul (film)
Rahul is an Indian Emotional Drama film directed and produced by Prakash Jha. The film stars Neha, Neena Kulkarni and Gulshan Grover in leadroles.-Sypnosis:...
. He also served as an assistant to Kalpana Lajmi on Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence
Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence
Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence is a 2001 Indian film directed by Kalpana Lajmi released on 4 May 2001. The lead actress, Raveena Tandon, won the distinguished National Film Award for Best Actress for her role as Durga Saikia. The film follows the story of a battered wife...
(2001) where he had his first experience directing a full-length feature film.
It was while working on a Plus documentary about Dominic D'Souza, a champion swimmer and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
patient in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, that Onir conceived the idea for his first film. His directorial debut, My Brother... Nikhil (2005), deals with the Goan government's harsh treatment of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
patients in the 1980s and the stigma attached to them. My Brother... Nikhil was screened at several international film festivals and Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla is an Indian actress, film producer and television presenter.After being crowned as the winner of the Miss India beauty contest in 1984, Chawla pursued an acting career...
received an IIFA nomination for her role as the main character's supportive sister.
In 2006 he released his second film Bas Ek Pal
Bas Ek Pal
Bas Ek Pal is a 2006 Bollywood film, directed by Onir. The movie stars Juhi Chawla, Urmila Matondkar, Jimmy Shergill, Sanjay Suri, Rehaan Engineer and Yashpal Sharma...
with Urmila Matondkar
Urmila Matondkar
Urmila Matondkar is an Indian film actress.Matondkar, who made her screen debut as a child artist in the 1980 film Kalyug, debuted as an adult in Narasimha...
, Sanjay Suri
Sanjay Suri
Sanjay Suri is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.He made his debut in 1999 with Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. He went on to star in many supporting roles but finally got his big break with Jhankaar Beats in 2003, where audiences started to recognize him as a seasoned actor...
and Jimmy Shergill
Jimmy Shergill
Jasjit Singh Gill , popularly known as Jimmy Shergill , is an Indian actor.-Early life:Shergill was born in a Jatt Sikh family in Gorakhpur, India and studied there till 5th Grade in St. Paul's School. Then, his family shifted to Patiala...
. He received a nomination for the Best Director Critic's Award at the Global Indian Film Awards
Global Indian Film Awards
Global Indian Film Awards was an awards ceremony held between 2005 and 2007, conceptualized to acknowledge excellence in the Indian Film industry and honour artists in 23 categories across various genres, from acting to film making. It is held in a different country each year. 2005 in Dubai,...
for the film. It was not a financial success, only collecting 15-20 percent at the box office. His next film Sorry Bhai!
Sorry Bhai!
Sorry Bhai is a Bollywood film starring Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Sanjay Suri, Sharman Joshi and Chitrangada Singh. It was directed by Onir and released on 28 November 2008...
also failed to do well as it released the week of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
.
Onir's latest film is I Am
I Am (film)
I Am is a 2010 Indian anthology film by Onir. It consists of four short films: "Omar", "Afia", "Abhimanyu", and "Megha". Each film shares the common theme of fear and each is also based on real life stories. The film was financed by donations from more than 400 different people around the world,...
which consists of four short films exploring such themes as child abuse and same-sex relationships. The film was awarded the 2008/9 Triangle Media Group Honorary Award on 7 February 2010 and won Best Film awards at both the London Asian Film Festival and the River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival
River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival
River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival is an annual film festival in Florence, Italy that showcases independent and low-budget Indian films...
. In February 2011 Onir served as a panelist at I2IT
International Institute of Information Technology, Pune
The International Institute of Information Technology , is a higher education institute situated at Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Hinjawadi, in Pune, Maharashtra, India.-History:...
's annual technology and management fest Dhruv 2011, discussing 'Cinema and Youth'. Onir has mentioned in interviews that his next project will be an urban adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. Together with Sanjay Suri he has started Anticlock Films, a production company that will concentrate on promoting young directors. Ashwini Malik's Kill Chhabra and Bikas Ranjan Mishra's Chauranga will be its next films.
Personal life
He has one younger brother Abhishek Dhar, a research scientist at Raman Research InstituteRaman Research Institute
Raman Research Institute is a research institute in Bangalore, India. It was started by Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman.The main areas of research are:*Astronomy and Astrophysics*Liquid Crystals*Theoretical Physics*Optics...
and winner of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology. His sister Irene Dhar Malik is a film and television editor. Onir is an atheist. He can speak Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Russia
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
n, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
. His favourite film directors are Ritwik Ghatak, Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
, Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
and Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
while he cites Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
’s Junoon
Junoon (1978 film)
The soundtrack features 4 songs, composed by Vanraj Bhatia, with original lyrics from Yogesh Praveen and other lyrics by Amir Khusro, Jigar Moradabadi and Sant Kabir.#"Khusro rain piya ki jaagi pee ke sang" – Jamil Ahmad...
as the reason he became a filmmaker. He is also one of the few openly gay directors in Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
.
Director
- "Tiger's Nest" (1991) (documentary short)
- "Fallen Hero" (1992) (documentary short)
- My Brother... Nikhil (2005)
- Bas Ek PalBas Ek PalBas Ek Pal is a 2006 Bollywood film, directed by Onir. The movie stars Juhi Chawla, Urmila Matondkar, Jimmy Shergill, Sanjay Suri, Rehaan Engineer and Yashpal Sharma...
(2006) - Sorry Bhai!Sorry Bhai!Sorry Bhai is a Bollywood film starring Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Sanjay Suri, Sharman Joshi and Chitrangada Singh. It was directed by Onir and released on 28 November 2008...
(2008) - I Am (2011)
- The Face (2011)
- Shab (Announced)
Editor
- 2001 RahulRahul (film)Rahul is an Indian Emotional Drama film directed and produced by Prakash Jha. The film stars Neha, Neena Kulkarni and Gulshan Grover in leadroles.-Sypnosis:...
- 2001 Daman: A Victim of Marital ViolenceDaman: A Victim of Marital ViolenceDaman: A Victim of Marital Violence is a 2001 Indian film directed by Kalpana Lajmi released on 4 May 2001. The lead actress, Raveena Tandon, won the distinguished National Film Award for Best Actress for her role as Durga Saikia. The film follows the story of a battered wife...
- 2003 Fun 2shh: Dudes In the 10th CenturyFun 2shh: Dudes In the 10th CenturyFun 2shh: Dudes in the 10th Century is a 2003 Hindi Comedy Film directed by Imtiaz Punjabi and starring Amitabh Bachchan , Gulshan Grover and Paresh Rawal.-Plot:...
- 2003 BhootBhootBhoot is a Bollywood ghost movie released in 2003. It was directed by Ram Gopal Varma and stars Ajay Devgan and Urmila Matondkar. It was perceived to be different from a typical Bollywood movie as it did not contain songs. The film did average business at the box office...
- 2005 My Brother... Nikhil
- 2011 I Am
Producer
- 2005 My Brother... Nikhil
- 2008 Sorry Bhai!
- 2011 I Am
- 2012 Chauranga