Onir on Pine Cone: I am not a rebel. I am just a loving person

Filmmaker Onir received the prestigious Kashish Rainbow Warrior Award at the opening ceremony of the 14th Kashish International Queer Film Festival. Actress Raveena Tandon handed him over the award. This year, Onir’s new film Pine Cone was screened at the festival that started on June 7 and ran till June 11. 

According to Onir, Pine Cone delves into a queer person’s desire. “The character, Sid, navigates through love and how society reacts to it. Also, this is for the first time the lead actor Vidur Sethi is a queer man playing a queer character in a mainstream Bollywood film. It is important that not just the writer, director, and part producer, but the lead actor also is from the community. There is a strong sense of belonging there,” said the director.

Onir also explained that the film that shows queer love from a queer gaze. “It talks about queer desire. No Indian film has shown gay love and desire. Indian films don’t celebrate desire. It rather shows desire in a sleazy way. Today I was doing an interview and I showed that person the trailer. And their reply was, ‘Oh yeh to bahut hi bold hai. Aapne kiss dikha diya.’ And I was like, ‘OK, in 2023 people need to be bold to show a kiss?’ I have shown it before. People often say I am a rebel but I am not a rebel. I am just a loving person,” he said.