Revisit: Onir’s Delicately Drawn Queer Film As It Clocks 15 Years

There was something  happening to  Hindi cinema  in 2005…Something strange stirring exciting and  pathbreaking.   After Madhur Bhandarkar’s Page 3 and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black, you would think our cinema has given enough of  the unconventional palate  for the audience to chew on.
Not so! In

 My Brother…Nikhil , an intimate and yet far-reaching study of family ties , social castigation and the resilience that makes the human spirit ride over daunting adversities—much like the  swimmer- hero of debutant director Onir’s heartwarming film who rides the oceans …until oceanic events overtake his well-ordered life.
First things first. My Brother…Nikhil is a film  about a very critical social cause,  AIDS to be  precise….The imprecise parameters  of the complex  issue are framed in a quaint but never over-emphasized or excessively well-ordered pyramid of montages.  In fact, the narrative moves to a contrary beat whereby sections of the heart-rending story open up to us almost like the petals of a  reluctant flower that must blossom before it’s too late.
Like many of the new avant- garde directors , Onir uses the Brechtian distancing device whereby the characters speak directly  into the camera about the protagonist.  We get to ‘know’ Nikhil, the bright promising sportsperson whose  career life and selfregard are   shattered by tragedy, through the voices of his father  Navin Kapoor(Victor Bannerjee),  mom Anita(Lillete Dubey), friend and companion Nigel(Purab Kohli) and sister Anu(Juhi Chawla).
The multiplicity of voices never crowd the narrative.  Could it be because the narrative favours stillness over shrillness? There are great moments of  drama  in the narrative, specially towards the end when the dying hero has to come to terms with his impending end .
Scenes between Nikhil and his loved ones rip  your heart open with their  translucent candour.(I get tearful even as I write about those moments).
Onir  never milks the inheremt tragedy  of  the theme  for melodrama. As in  the masterful Black, the emphasis in My Brother…Nikhil is on  light rather than dark.  The ocean-blue landscape quietly captured by Arvind Kannabiran’s  non-judgemental camera, weaves through these flawed lives like  a stream winding its way through a  craggy valley.
Not since Shyam Benegal’s Trikal  have characters looked so much at-home in  Goa.  As we peer into Nikhil’s  cosy world we, the  spectators, are never made to feel  like intruders but rather,  like welcome guests.
The absence of mawkishness in the drama is a constant reminder of  the new levels of maturity being attained by our cinema. Less always seems more in  My Brother…Nikhil. And that’s part of its innate charm as a story and a slice of life that cuts a  deep  dent  into our hearts without using a sharp knife.There are no sharp edges in the narrative, no laboured attempts to get our attention , even in moments of heart-rending tragedy.
I must single out the pre-climactic sequence where the dying Nikhil’s father meets up with his son after two years of ostracization. Overwhelmed with emotion, Nikhil says, “Remember as a child you’d  come to me in the night  and promise to make my nightmares go away. Papa, make this nightmare go away.”

      It’s a moment every sensitive viewer would carry in his heart forever. My Brother…Nikhil is suffused with echanting moments, done-up in bright yet subtle tones that hold your attention without screaming for it.   Besides its power to hold and heal without a shrill squeal  the film’s greatest triumph is the completely in-sync cast. Victor Bannerjee and Lillete Dubey, both  very fine actors, live the anguish  of parents who face the ignominy of ostracization in  a close-knit conservative community. But the surprise is Purab Kohli. As Nikhil’s soul-mate Nigel, Kohli  brings tremendous tenderness and moisture  into the arteries of  his difficult character. The sequence where he quietly clutches his dying friend’s legs after a bitter quarrel shows how much spontaneity the actor brings to the material if he  believes in it.
Juhi Chawla,   the eternal sunshine girl , is perfectly  cast as Nikhil’s endearing supportive and defiant sister. I couldn’t help think back to Aishwarya Rai’s sibling  posturing with Shah Rukh  Khan in that other Goan saga  Josh.  Whereas Rai and Khan were blustering and dramatic, Chawla and Suri play their characters at an even  tranquil keel.

      The film is finally a triumph for producer Sanjay Suri. Playing the title character he  gets the chance to  play a role no other Indian actor has ever done. Nikhil’s sexuality and his struggle to die with dignity are mapped on Suri’s gentle face.   He’s so equipped to convey Nikhil’s vulnerability  that you wonder what has  kept the film fraternity from proving him better opportunities.
A  hurrah for  Vivek  Philip’s music. The theme song (stunningly well sung by Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan and KK) reverberates across the moon-drenched mood of this mellow-drama  . The tune and its words just sweep us away into a galaxy of heartbreaking feelings.
Unlike the other recent film Phir Milenge  about  a protagonist’s fight against the prejudices associated with AIDS  , My Brother…Nikhil is neither inspired by a Hollywood source, nor does it get didactic and sermonistic  . The social message on the stigma  of the survivor is dealt with  firm but soft hands.
The delicacy of the narrative reminds you of a dewdrop trembling on a large windswept leaf . Just how an emotion is perched in a plot is entirely up to the artiste who paints the scenario. And Nikhil’s creators have their hearts at the right place.
My Brother…Nikhil   celebrates a life that withers away in front of our eyes. But not before asserting its right to die with grace. And such grace, even under such daunting pressure!