The defence ministry has rejected the script of a film showing a gay soldier in the Indian Army.
Onir, who uses only one name, is gay himself and was among the first major Bollywood figures to openly acknowledge his sexuality.
We Are,” a script by Onir, tells the stories of a bisexual man, and a fictional love story between a gay officer and a Kashmiri youngster.
But when he approached the defence ministry for a “no objection certificate” which most studios, streaming platforms and producers now insist on to ensure there are no legal or administrative hurdles he was rejected.
Onir had sought the defence establishment’s permission to make the film, which was inspired by the story of a gay Major who quit because it was no longer tenable for him to remain a homosexual and be in the Army, as a sequel to his National Award-winning film titled ‘I Am’, as was reported by TOI last month.
In his own life, he said, “I have always been out. I have never had one moment of coming out of a crisis about who I am.”