‘No one asks if you’ve made too many straight films’: Onir on bias in Bollywood

During promotions for his new film My Melbourne, an anthology, filmmaker Onir was asked if he had “done enough queer stories.” He found the question bizarre and indicative of industry bias.

“I’ve made more straight films than queer ones,” he told Mid-Day. “There were three other directors sitting with me at the time, but none of them were asked if they’d done too many straight films?”

Lack of mainstream support

Despite We Are Faheem and Karun screening at prestigious festivals like Kashish, Onir noted these events often attract predominantly queer audiences. Post-screening discussions rarely extend beyond the community, highlighting a larger issue of systemic neglect.

Onir didn’t hold back on the lack of genuine industry support, “I wish there was more empathy and support from the industry instead of tokenism, where our presence is only acknowledged during Pride Month,” he said. “There’s a superiority complex, as if queer representation is being done for us.”

The real struggle: visibility

For Onir, creating good content isn’t the problem; getting it seen is. “My job is to make a good film,” he explained. “If I’m making a film for Rs 5 crore that’s traveling the world, and you can’t get it to audiences, then that’s a failure of marketing… If Shah Rukh Khan is in the film, you won’t even need marketing. So why not take that challenge and make smaller, meaningful films work?”

Onir says that the bravery shown by Yash Raj Films when they backed his film My Brother… Nikhil (2005) is what the industry lacks today. “I don`t think the platforms have that guts that Yash Raj had. Back then, there were people who were passionate about films. Now all they talk about is projects and traction. Is that what my film and story have been reduced to?”

He also pointed out that streaming platform representatives often don’t attend queer film screenings, denying these films a fair shot at distribution. 

Casting biases continue

Onir acknowledged ongoing debates about representation of queer actors in movies. “When it comes to sexuality, I believe anyone should be able to portray any character because being openly gay still limits opportunities, especially for ‘straight’ roles. That said, when it comes to gender, especially transgender roles, it’s deeply disappointing that trans actors rarely get the chance to play mainstream characters,” he said adding that actors are okay playing domestic abusers and rapists on screen but not queer characters. 

He added, “As a filmmaker, I don’t ask about someone’s sexuality but I’ve noticed that queer actors often approach physicality, desire, and intimacy with more ease People praise straight actors for playing one gay role and give them awards but no one ever says, ‘Wow, he did a straight role.”

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