Onir to make ‘open appeal’ to defence ministry after script on gay army man is rejected

Filmmaker Onir’s upcoming anthology We Are is the sequel to his earlier film I Am (2011). The movie celebrates queer stories in the wake of the decriminalization of homosexuality in India in 2018. But the film faced an obstacle recently.

One of the segments in We Are is inspired by the true story of major J Suresh, a homosexual soldier who quit the service. As per the defence ministry's rules, production houses are required to obtain a no-objection certificate [NOC] before making a film, web-series or documentary on the army. 

After Onir submitted the script to the ministry, the latter rejected it.

Sharing his reaction, Onir told the newspaper Mid-Day, “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 the public domain.”

When Cinestaan asked Onir what he intends to do next, he said, “I am planning to send an open appeal to the defence ministry before trying out a legal route. It will be a letter that I will put out in the media. I'm just figuring it out.”

Throwing light on the themes of We Are, the filmmaker had told Cinestaan in an interview last year, “After what happened in 2018, I thought I want to make a film that is my gift to my community celebrating the Supreme Court verdict. So all these films are LGBTQ love stories. At the same time, it highlights the fact that we are being decriminalized by law for sex but it does not really give us equal civil rights and does not recognize our right to love and live together as partners. This film is all about love and happy stories.”