Filmmaker Onir was offered to direct Chameli but ‘Kareena Kapoor wasn’t keen to work with a new director’

Filmmaker Onir recently released his memoir titled I am Onir & I Am Gay. In the autobiography, Onir revealed several details about his personal and professional life. In one of the chapters he revealed that he was offered to direct the 2003 film Chameli, but he lost the project as Kareena Kapoor didn’t wanted to work with a new director. Also Read: Onir says gay roles have been ‘sanitised’ in films because heterosexual actors aren’t comfortable with intimacy

Onir stated in his book that film producer Rangita Nandy offered him to direct Chameli after filmmaker Anant Balani died of a heart attack. Anant partly shot the film before his death and Onir agreed to continue with the remaining work. He wrote, “I half-heartedly agreed and was kind of relieved when things didn’t work out, possibly because Kareena (Kapoor) was not keen on working with a new director.” Chameli also starred Rahul Bose and was actor Rinke Khanna’s last film after her marriage and subsequent retirement from the film industry.

Later, when Onir lost the project, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra stepped in. Around 14 months after the release of Chameli, Onir made his directorial debut with My Brother Nikhil, which starred Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla and Purab Kohli. Onir won the National Award for his film I Am, which also featured a segment on gay rights.

Onir has now cast Delhi-based actor Vidur Sethi, who identifies as queer, as a lead in his upcoming film Pine Cone. The film reportedly follows the protagonist’s journey through a decade of his life. Earlier this year, Onir announced the project on his social media handles. Sharing a photo, he wrote, “Introducing 5 Debutant actors in my next film #PineCone . Including Vidur Sethi who might be one of the first queer Indian actors to be introduced as lead in a feature film. Am curious how curious media would be about their journey … without involvement of media net.”