Pine Cone

Onir is an Indian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor.
Born as Anirban Dhar in Samchi, Bhutan, Onir spent much of his childhood going to the cinema. Earlier, Onir studied comparative literature at Jadavpur University in 1989, he received a scholarship to study film editing at SFB/TTC in Berlin. He later returned to India and worked as an editor, scriptwriter, art director, music album producer and song/music video director.

Onir directed and produced his first Documentary film on painter Bijon Chaudhary, “Falling Hero” in 1992. In 1999 he worked as the film editor, song designer and song director of the film “Daman” directed by Kalpana Lajmi.

He is best known for his film “My Brother...Nikhil”, based on the life of Dominic D'Souza, starring Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla and Purab Kohli. It was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships.

In January 2006, he started shooting his second feature film “Bas Ek Pal” with Juhi Chawla, Urmila Matondkar, Jimmy Shergill, Rehaan Engineer and Sanjay Suri. The film was released on Sep 15, 2006.

In 2007 he started his third film “Sorry Bhai!” under his and Sanjay’s home production Anticlock Films. Sorry Bhai! starred Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Sanjay Suri, Chitrangada Singh and Boman Irani.

In 2009, Anticlock Films started the unique citizen-funded film project called “I AM” which was Onir’s fourth feature film. The film had four stories that are interlinked by characters and shot across four cities in India. The funds for the films have been through Facebook and Blogs. “I AM” is probably the first and largest crowd-sourced film through the social networks in India. Over 400 people across 47 cities across the world have come together to make this film. “I AM” was released to wide critical acclaim on April 29, 2011. He won the Indian National Film awards for Best Film (Hindi) for the anthology “I AM” in 2011. I AM is considered one of the first and largest crowd-funded and crowd-sourced film through social media in India. The film dealt with single motherhood, child sexual abuse, displacement and LGBTQI rights.

Onir produced “CHAURANGA” (Four Colours) which won the Incredible India Award as the best script at the Goa Film Bazaar, International Film Festival of India, won best film India Gold at MAMI and IFFLA. This film is about class conflict set in rural India and directed by Debutant Director Bikas Mishra. The script was also a part of Berlin Talent Campus 2010.

Feature-length documentary “Raising the Bar”, an Indi-Australian documentary featuring the lives of 6 children and young people living with down syndrome premiered at the Melbourne Indian Film Festival in 2016.
“SHAB” (The night) directed by Onir released in 2017. The film premiered at New York Indian Film Festival, screened at Melbourne Indian Film Festival, Sydney Indian Film Festival, Florence River to River Indian Film Festival and Stuttgart India Film Festival.

His 6th feature film as director “Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz” (Rain-soaked words) was released in Feb 2018. The film had its Festival premier at the London South Asian Film Festival in March 2018. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.

In 2018, he made a short documentary, ‘Widows of Vrindavan’… about unwanted mothers…who try and seek solace in pursuit of divine love. The documentary portrays the lives of widows living at Maitri Ghar (House), their journey to Vrindavan, their childhood, their crushed dreams and what keeps them alive now. Widows of Vrindavan is a film about these widows trying to find dignity and hope as they await death. The documentary was premiered at the Indisches Film festival Stuttgart in 2019. It received the Best Documentary (Audience choice award) at 9th Jagran Film Festival. In 2018 he received Likho Award (Trailblazer Award)

Onir has received the Diversity Award from Film Victoria Australia and La Trobe University at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2019.

Onir received the Engendered Spirit of Independent Cinema Award 2020 at the Engendered Human Rights Film Festival in Delhi.

Onir directed the Indo-Italian documentary film on contemporary art, SAMA: Symbols and Gestures in Contemporary Art of Italy and India (2021) which underlines the artistic parallels between India and Italy. Currently,

PINE CONE, a queer love story which is written by Ashwini Malik and Onir premiered at The KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival June 2023 where Onir received the "Rainbow Warrior Award". The film won the "Rainbow stories Award " given by the Minister of Equality, australia 2023 August at IffMelbourne. the film is at present doing the festival circuit. It is loosely based on Onir’s memoir; I Am Onir and I Am Gay which he has co-written with his sister Irene Dhar Malik and published by Penguin Viking.