'Shocked To Know That A Protest Was Planned': Onir On Cancelled Event

Filmmaker Onir opened up to The Quint about feeling targeted after cancelled event at Bhopal Literature Festival.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter; Altered by The Quint) 

One of the pioneers of queer representation in Indian media, Onir took to social media to share that an event he was "really looking forward to speaking at" had to be cancelled because of threats to his safety.

The My Brother...Nikhil filmmaker wrote, "Shocked and Sad that an event I was really looking forward to speaking at had to drop me." He added, "Apparently there was a group threatening protest and violence and the police told the organisers that they cannot guarantee my safety. So they cancelled the event. Let me process this..."

The event in question was a discussion at the Bhopal Literature Festival titled 'Making Literature LGBTIQ Neutral'.

An author, Vijay Manohar Tiwari took to Twitter to justify the outrage against Onir. Writing in Hindi, the tweet translates to "He is deeply respected in the society, but in the name of literature, at least in the premises of Bharat Bhavan, this subject is neither relevant nor necessary."

Calling the discussion of LGBTQIA+ issues "nonsense", he added, "This nonsense topic has been immediately removed from #BLF by the enthusiastic, thoughtful and modernist organizers after the matter came to its senses late..."

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Speaking to The Quint, Onir cited the event saying, "All I was supposed to discuss was queer rights". Expressing shock and disappointment, the I AM director wrote, "I was all ready to leave for the airport and so this came as a huge shock." Referring to his social media platform being critical of the prevalent injustices in the country, he further added, "To know that every (social media) post of one's been evaluated especially when I think I mostly only speak up for Unity against hate."

Shocked to know that a protest was planned and the police said they can't guarantee my safety. I am not even told who and what exactly was their reason to target me. Disappointed that we have come to this.

ONIR ON BEING TARGETED

The filmmaker concluded his comment by acknowledging that this is not the first time a politically outspoken artist has been barred from an event. He wrote, "Not that I am not aware that it's been happening fo sometime now to various artists".