Exploring relationships in urban spaces is a common feature in Onir’s films. For a change, the filmmaker, who has directed My Brother … Nikhil and I Am , is now pumping his creative energy into Chaurangaa , which is based on an unusual real life story set in rural Jharkhand. The film talks about caste hierarchy in a love story.
Onir, who was in the Capital to attend the recently concluded North East Festival, took time to talk about his upcoming film and the issues bothering him.
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Director Bikas Ranjan Mishra and I have the same mentor and we have done lot of work together at the Locarno Script lab. One day he showed me his script and it was very touchy. So I decided to do it. Firstly we decided to do it with crowd funding but later Sanjay (Suri) and I decided to do it on our own and later Mohan Mulani, an investor from Singapore, also joined us followed by NFDC.
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This incident happened in 2008 when a 14-year-old Dalit boy had written a love letter to an upper caste 16-year-old girl in Jharkhand. The letter is the starting point of the film followed by incidents that happened afterwards.
Your films always showcase the urban space butChaurangaahas a village set-up. Are you exploring new areas?
This is a kind of film which I could not have directed myself as it is set in rural India and I don’t have much knowledge about it. But I want to explore this part of India too and that curiosity made me to produce this film. This is the first film which I am doing as a producer. The stories of Masaan and Killa also emerged from suburban background and have proven successful. So it is the right time for Chaurangaa to release.
Regional filmmakers are making films in Hindi but Bollywood filmmakers do not seem interested in becoming part of regional cinema.
I am a Bengali but I was born and brought up initially in Bhutan. I lived in Kolkata only for five years doing college. I started my career in Mumbai and I have spent more of my life there, so my association with Hindi cinema is much more as it gives me more space. Because of the working culture and opportunities, Mumbai has an edge over other regional cinema. And I will love to make a Bengali film also because of my mother’s wish. And Chaurangaa too is partly in Korwa, a native dialect of Jharkhand, which gives it a regional touch.
Recently, Nepal’s Constitution was framed and it gave rights to the LGBT community. Your take on India’s reluctance to address this issue?
I wish India should learn something from it. Even Pakistan recognised the third gender before India did it recently. The people who label themselves as the protector of culture know nothing about India’s culture. India was a country which celebrated sex as a beautiful thing in form of idols or literature. But now they want to divert the attention of the people from main topics. They are not just sabotaging the history but also misusing it for wrong purposes.
What inspires you to make movies on child abuse or the LGBT community?
It is too early to give a specific term to my filmmaking style as I have to explore more. Money has never been a driving force for me and it is the relationship which matters to me the most which made me what I am today. Relationships are one of the most complex things in life which comes in different layers. And I think topics such as abuse, same sex relations are present all around us but we are not paying heed to them. We have to educate our child about abuse and free ourselves from settled stereotypes.
You have been working onVedaandShabbfor some time now.
Shabb is a story based on complex relationships and is set in Delhi. We have shot it in four seasons. It’s about the search of true love and exploring the superficiality and realities of one’s personality. Veda is my adaptation of “Hamlet” which I had started much earlier. We have partly shot the film in the U.K.