Onir says it's disheartening after Defence ministry rejects script based on gay Major

The script of filmmaker Onir's upcoming film, We Are, has been rejected by the Defence ministry. The story was inspired by a gay Major who quit.

Filmmaker Onir's script for his film We Are, which is inspired by the story of a gay Major, was rejected by the Defence ministry on Friday, January 22. The film was supposed to be a sequel to the director's award-winning film I Am. Speaking to IndiaToday.in My Brother Nikhil director opened up about what he feels about the rejection, his next step and more.

The rejection came as a shock to Onir who was sure that the script will pass as it is made with a lot of respect. He said, "One, the film is not really about the major who quit the army. I have seen the interview of the major that he has given after he had quit the Indian Army about how it was not possible for him to continue because in the Army, he had to hide his sexuality and it became impossible for him after a point to continue. So as for me, the interview that I saw after the Supreme Court verdict is the thing that disturbed me, how after such a long fight, the community has to still communalise homosexuality. "

He said that why should a queer person wanting to be in the army be judged for his sexuality and not his skills, intellect and physical strength. "This is absolutely bizarre that this would be the factor that decides," he said.

He further added, "Why should that be the factor, most likely its because of outdated law which is probably from 1857 Colonial law. And, we are constantly, these days, talking about dumping what is colonial, British this and that, but we don’t dump regressive laws. We don’t realise 56 countries across the word have expected the LGBT community as a part of the army and I would want my country to be a part of progressive nations. I would want my Army to be treated with love and respect. I respect my identity and the identity of many people who probably have to live a double life since they can’t express their identity and that was the reason for wanting to do the film inspired by the interview story. I just wrote a fictional story of an army man who is in love and he is quitting love because he can’t express himself. It's like a sequel to the film I Am. So, later in the other stories we get to know that he quits the army because he cannot be honest to himself and if he is not honest to himself how can he be honest to anything else"

Onir shared that he wasn't aware of the new law of submitting the scripts. He asserted, "This is the new law which I was not aware of that you got to get approved everything by the officials if you feature anything to do with armed forces so I sent my script last month and day before yesterday I got a formal email. But before that I was told it is going to get rejected not because of anything in the script that could be modified. It was featured with a lot of respect and empathy. There is nothing which is even degrading them in a script. So, there was nothing they could point out like that, they just said that for us being gay is criminal and I am like how can that be when we are just being decriminalised. Then I got the email saying we have analysed the content and we will not proceed and it is disheartening for a filmmaker."

Ask the director what his plan of action is and he responds, "My job is not to be at the court. As an independent filmmaker I don’t have too many choices because this is the last law that you have to get NOC. So now it has been refused, so now my job is not to sit. I am just hoping that the army authority realises how unfair and ridiculous this is. This is only making the army not progressive and does not celebrate inclusion, diversion, and diversity. And if you see, even in recent years, it has taken so much of a fight for women to find their space in the Indian army. I will have to think about how I will rework my story. Whatever I need to make, I want to make at the same time as I feel it's absolutely important for me to tell this story. And for the first time, I am facing this kind of resistance. So I am also not really prepared. At the same time, I am hoping that there are so many lawyers who want to take up things like that who believe in this and the army. I will be talking to a few people who are willing to fight for me. But, just individually, it's not possible for me to do it. It is not my job, my job is of a filmmaker to tell stories and not sit inside the court."

It is very heartbreaking for the director because he was almost ready to shoot the film. "We were going to shoot this segment in March in Kolkata and Kashmir. The shooting of the entire film was supposed to be wrapped up in May. The four stories of We Are’ are connected to each other. So, I can’t shoot this film without this segment."