My Brother Nikhil and I Am
[I wrote this a month ago, immediately after seeing the films, and forgot to hit publish. Oops.] The wonderful Onir has just visited my campus, and by some miracle his films were screened at my actual workplace as the centerpiece of a semester-long series on Indian cinema. I should have seen these films already, especially after realizing at least one friend from the German-speaking Bollywood crew was supporting the development and showings of I Am , but I can't really regret having my first viewing of them be on the big screen followed by a Q&A with the director himself. My Brother...Nikhil ( official site ) To be honest, this did not really impress me as I was watching it, I think mostly because while I recognize how unusual this film is ("might have been"? present tense might be appropriate, because I sure can't name many other films that deal with AIDS in any way) for India—and how absolutely important its presence is—being a teenager in the late 80s an