I Am Onir and I Am Gay: A Memoir

by Onir

The award-winning filmmaker Onir, whose directorial debut, My Brother Nikhil (2005), broke new ground in LGBT representation on the Indian silver screen, opens up fully for the first time. From his childhood days in Bhutan to when he was a young man with no connections in the Hindi film industry who dreamt big and fought to carve a niche for himself, Onir takes the reader through his struggles and triumphs to offer an intimate glimpse of his fascinating journey to success. Now one of the few openly gay directors in Bollywood, Onir remains fearless about his identity and passionate about his role as a filmmaker in opening up the road to difficult conversations about identity and resilience.


I Am Onir and I Am Gay is a raw, eloquent and inspiring memoir about confronting and transcending frontiers. Written with his sister Irene Dhar Malik, this emotionally gritty and unabashedly honest personal story is a pathbreaking narrative of hope, love and the pursuit of dreams.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of out gay South Asian director Onir. While I wished he could intertwine his personal life more with the his film life, the author was passionate and pursued the many challenges with vigor, displaying all his gifts and his faults which is a rare commodity.