Onir's film Pine Cone to open Kashish Film Festival, South Asia's largest queer film festival

After having made heartfelt films like the Juhi Chawla- Sanjay Suri starrer ‘My Brother…Nikhil’ and ‘I Am’ (which starred Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das and others), film maker Onir is back with his latest film ‘Pine Cone’, which is touted to be a celebration of love within the LGBTQ community and is a story that is a powerful advocate for their true representation in cinema. The latest update on the film is that, it will have its world premiere at ‘Kashish Film Festival’, which happens to be largest queer film festival in South Asia.

Also Read: Onir on Priyanka Chopra’s ‘tumultuous’ journey in Bollywood: ‘Media is still busy being paparazzi to star kids’ 

Speaking about the film, Onir said, "Pine Cone’ is a very special film to me. As the process started, the Ministry of Defence did not approve one of my scripts that was inspired by a real story. So, we started working on this story in 2021, so that we continue telling our stories and overcome resistance to our identity. ‘Pine Cone’ comes from memories of love, loss, deceit and forgiveness. Forgiving the world, that special person and oneself and celebrating the beauty of our journey... the rainbow journey”.

Also Read: Onir on Pride Month: Bollywood needs to move beyond acceptance stories of the LGBTQIA+ community 

As for the film, ‘Pine Cone’, the viewer will see that it showcases three stories told from the life perspective of lead character Sid Mehra, whilst he navigates relationships in his quest for love in his life. The USP of the film is its unique narrative structure. It is this unique narrative structure which helps the three stories’ unfolding in reverse chronological order, spanning the years. These years include 2019, 2009, and 1999. The screening of ‘Pine Cone’ at Kashish Film Festival will take place on the opening day of the festival, which is June 7 this year.

As for the film’s cast, it stars introduces five debutant actors. The film’s lead actor is Vidur Sethi, who, Onir thinks, might be one of the first queer Indian actors to be introduced as lead in a feature film.