Onir is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor and producer associated with independent cinema in Hindi. He is best known for his 2005 film My Brother…Nikhil, one of the earliest mainstream Hindi films to deal with HIV/AIDS and same-sex relationships, and for the anthology film I Am (2010), which won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Film.
| Born | Anirban Dhar |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Samchi, Bhutan |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | Jadavpur University, Kolkata; film studies in Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, editor, producer |
| Notable works | My Brother…Nikhil, Bas Ek Pal, I Am, Shab, Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz |
| Production company | Anticlock Films |
| Major award | National Film Award for Best Hindi Film (I Am, 2011) |
Onir was born Anirban Dhar in Bhutan, where his family was based for several years, and later moved to Kolkata. He studied comparative literature at Jadavpur University before travelling to Berlin on a scholarship to study film editing. After returning to India, he worked in television and on music videos in Mumbai during the 1990s before transitioning to feature filmmaking.
Onir's directorial debut, My Brother…Nikhil, starred Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla, Purab Kohli and Victor Banerjee. Loosely inspired by the life of Goan swimmer Dominic D'Souza, the film portrayed a young man living with HIV/AIDS and his relationship with his partner. It was among the first Hindi films to depict a same-sex relationship sympathetically and is regarded as a landmark in Indian queer cinema.
His second feature, Bas Ek Pal, was an ensemble drama featuring Urmila Matondkar, Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla, Jimmy Sheirgill and Rehaan Engineer.
I Am was an anthology of four short films—Afia, Megha, Abhimanyu and Omar—dealing respectively with single motherhood through sperm donation, the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits, child sexual abuse, and the harassment of gay men under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The film was crowdfunded with contributions from hundreds of donors, an unusual production model for Indian cinema at the time. It won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Film and the National Film Award for Best Lyrics at the 58th National Film Awards.
Onir directed Shab (2017), set in Delhi's high society, and Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz (2018), a Kolkata-set romance dealing with vitiligo and depression. He has also produced films under his banner Anticlock Films, co-founded with actor Sanjay Suri.
Onir announced a follow-up anthology titled We Are, intended to feature four stories of queer love in India. One segment, based on the life of a former Indian Army officer, was reported to have been denied clearance by the Ministry of Defence. He subsequently developed the project as Pine Cone, released in 2023, which traces a gay filmmaker's relationships across three time periods.
In 2022, Onir co-authored a memoir, I Am Onir, and I Am Gay, with his sister Irene Dhar Malik. The book chronicles his personal journey, his coming out, and his experiences in the Indian film industry as an openly gay filmmaker.
Onir is among the few openly gay mainstream filmmakers in India and has been a consistent advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, including the reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code by the Supreme Court of India in 2018. His films have been noted for engaging with subjects often absent from commercial Hindi cinema, including HIV/AIDS, sexual minorities, mental health, child abuse and communal displacement. He has also championed independent and crowdfunded production methods in India.