Filmmaker Onir is known for sensitive stories. And the My Brother Nikhil director is also fond of good storytellers. "I love to read about relationships as most of my films are on that subject," says Onir. He tells us more about his favourite pastime:

An open chapter

I love reading. As a youngster, I was a voracious reader but unfortunately, that isn't the story anymore. I just can't make time for it. Some of the books that I read recently were The Blue Notebook and Maps Of The Lost Lover.

The former is a moving book by James Levine about a young girl, Batuk, who rises above her miserable circumstances. And that's possible only because she's educated.

Maps For Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam is a beautiful love story of a Sikh guy and a Pakistani girl. I am dying to make a film based on that story. I was in tears after finishing that book as it's a very emotional tale. When it comes to genres, magic realism is one of my favourites.

Appendix

I love Latin writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges. Amitav Ghosh is also a very fascinating storyteller -- I'm amazed at the manner in which he weaves his plots and characters. I have read all his books.

As a child, I read a lot of Ruskin Bond short stories. I feel he is very under-rated writer. I also admire Salman Rushdie. The style in which he mixes fantasy, politics and human emotions is unparallelled.