In a recent interview with the Times of India, the filmmaker was asked about non-queer actors playing queer roles in films. He won the National Award for his film I Am, which also featured a segment on gay rights. Onir is best known for his film My Brother Nikhil, which was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with same-sex relationships.
Also read: Onir praises Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar's Badhaai Do: ‘At least some in uniform can be shown as homosexual' Talking about this in a recent interview, Onir said that getting heterosexual cisgender actors can often hamper the storytelling as they bring their inhibitions on board. There has long been a debate about whether LGBTQ characters should be played by non-LGBTQ actors. Filmmaker Onir has said that at times, gay romances on screen have to be ‘sanitised’ because the heterosexual actors performing those roles are not fully comfortable with the intimacy.
