Ministry Of Defence Rejects Onir’s Film As It Deals With LGBTQ+ In Armed Forces; Filmmaker Says, “I Can’t Just Be Told It’s Illegal”

Onir is a popular director who is well known for his content-heavy and through-proving movies, some of which have garnered immense attention on social media. The filmmaker has lately been in the news ever since his upcoming short film We Are, failed to gain clearance from the Ministry of Defence as per the new Cinematograph laws. As it became a major topic of discussion amongst the LGBTQ+ community, the director opened up on how he plans to discuss the film instead of taking the legal route.

For the unversed, the director is known for working on films like I Am, which hit the screens in 2010. The movie featured Manisha Koirala and Juhi Chawla in the lead roles alongside Rahul Bose. The anthology had four hard-hitting stories, all of which gained heavy critical acclaim at the time of the movie’s release.

As Onir’s new short film, We Are, failed at the screening process held by the Ministry of Defence, in a recent interaction with Mid-Day, the filmmaker elaborated on the movie’s plot. The story speaks about Major Suresh, who has to leave the Armed Forces just because he belongs to the LGBTQ+ community. He stated that the movie does not disrespect Armed Forces and only intends to highlight the 56 countries that allow LGBTQ+ members in their forces.