On Thursday, Onir faced a major roadblock in the making of We Are — the sequel to the National Award-winning film I Am (2010) — when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) rejected the script of one of the short films. But the filmmaker has faith in his story, and more importantly, in the power of dialogue in a democracy. “The film will be made,” begins Onir, whose short is inspired by the life of retired Major J Suresh, who came out as queer and left the service — one of the main reasons being that it became untenable for him to stay in the Indian Army, given his sexual orientation. “There is no disrespect to the Armed Forces here at all. I want to emphasise that 56 countries in the world recognise the LGBTQiA+ community [as part of their army],” asserts the director.
We Are is a sequel to the National Award-winning film I Am
In July 2021, the MoD had written to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that production houses should obtain an NOC from the defence ministry before making a film, web series or documentary on the army. Onir, in adherence with the guidelines, had sent the short film to the MoD in mid-December. Last week, the ministry informed him that the script has “not been cleared”. “Right at the beginning, I had requested a face-to-face meeting. I have not been given that yet. If something is being ‘rejected’, it has to be discussed at length. I can’t just be told it’s illegal. I am retelling the story that’s inspired from a real-life [episode], and the information is all in public domain.”
Onir wants to appeal to the ministry again before taking legal recourse. “It’s not respectful of them to disallow a filmmaker from telling a story in a democratic country. I don’t want to go straight away to court. That is jumping into an aggressive mode without trying dialogue again. I want to re-appeal because I believe the ministry needs to reconsider the matter. If that doesn’t happen, I don’t know if I have the resources as an independent filmmaker to fight a long-drawn legal battle.” While he will reach out to legal experts, he hopes to receive support from the queer community and those outside it. “This is about identity and rights. If you tell an artiste no, he will still make the film. Devices will be used to still tell the story with as much purity. If the story has to be changed, people will get a stronger message — that a filmmaker was denied [the right to tell a story] and he had to modify it to fit someone else’s norms.”
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