Onir shares inspiration behind his short film Nandini in My Melbourne ahead of its premiere at IFFM | Exclusive

Filmmaker Onir is one of the first celebrities to voice queer rights in Indian cinema with his film, My Brother Nikhil. Now, he is all set to entertain the audience with another such story, My Melbourne, an Indo-Australian anthology film that is set to premiere at the International Film Festival of Melbourne.

In an exclusive conversation with DNA, Onir talked about his short film Nandini in My Melbourne. He revealed his inspiration behind the story and what the audience could take away from the film.

Sharing his feelings about My Melbourne's premiere at the International Film Festival, the filmmaker said, "I am truly delighted that not one but two of my films, My Melbourne and Kagazi Naav, are being premiered at the International Film Festival of Melbourne. I am looking forward to see other colleague directors' stories and their style of working. I haven't seen the entire film and I want to see how the entire team has shaped up and I am looking forward to that." 

When asked about the inspiration behind the film, Onir said, "We went through an exciting process because we were working with Australian cast and crew. We did a selection online where there were various filmmakers who sent their stories and we shortlisted them this story that came from Greg, really touched a chord because it was based on partly his true life experience and I feel that I could quickly connect with it, because it's about a bond between a father and son. about loss and acceptance. It struck a chord because my first story, My Brother Nikhil also had a lot to do with the father and son bonding."

Onir further shared that the film is going to have a theatrical release and revealed what the audience can take away from his short film. He said, "Sometimes we lose a lot of precious time for a simple act of acceptance. Whereas acceptance is easier and the amount of love you can get with acceptance is not worth the delay." 

My Melbourne is an anthology featuring four short films by Indian directors Onir, Kabir Khan, Imtiaz Ali, and Rima Das. Themed on pillars of diversity, the four films represent different aspects of diversity with sexuality as a topic being the centerpiece of Onir’s film which is titled Nandini. My Melbourne is set to premiere at IFFM on August 15.

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