An encounter with Onir

Onir, director of critically acclaimed and multiple award winning film 'My Brother Nikhil', visited Whistling Woods International for a special guest lecture. He spoke to the students about the various challenges one faces as a new film maker to make their first film and the journey there on.

Onir, who has pursued his film education from a film institute in Berlin , spoke about how the perception of people in the industry is contorted when it comes to film school students and they label them with an 'Arty' image. He told the students how he hid the fact that he is a film school graduate from his prospective employers and how the industry is slowly waking up to the importance of film education, hence how brilliant an opportunity it is for the students at the institute to have a platform like Whistling Woods.

He also spoke to the students about what he has learnt during the making of his two films. He shared with the students how he handles his actors on set. He said that actors are an insecure bunch and need constant reassurance from the director about their performances. Hence a constant and clear flow of communication between the director and his actors. On being asked about how strictly he follows the rules and techniques of writing taught in film schools, he surprised everyone by saying that he never follows any rules while writing his films. He just follows the requirement of his story and tries to narrate it from the heart while remaining true to his characters and their sensibility.