Sabar Bonda
| Sabar Bonda | |
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| File:Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.jpg Cactus Pears at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival | |
| Directed by | Rohan Parashuram Kanawade |
| Written by | Rohan Parashuram Kanawade |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Vikas Urs |
| Edited by | Anadi Athaley |
Production companies |
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Release date |
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Running time | 112 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | Marathi |
| Box office | $11,500[1][2] |
Sabar Bonda (Marathi for 'Cactus Pears') is a 2025 romantic drama film written and directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, in his feature directorial debut.[3] It follows Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a man from the city who returns to his hometown following a death in the family, and reconnects romantically with his childhood friend Balya (Suraaj Suman).[4]
The film had its world premiere at the World Cinema Competition of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on 26 January,[5] where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It was the first Marathi-language film to premiere at the festival.[4][6][7]
Cast
[edit | edit source]- Bhushaan Manoj as Anand
- Suraaj Suman as Balya
- Jayshri Jagtap as Suman
Release
[edit | edit source]Cactus Pears had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on 26 January 2025 in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, in which it won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic.[8][9][7] It is also slated to screen at the 2025 Göteborg Film Festival.[10]
Reception
[edit | edit source]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10.[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]
Wendy Ide of Screen Daily reviewed, "Cactus Pears is a subdued, sensitive study of bereavement and the quietly radical act of being queer in a rural, lower-class Indian community."[13] IndieWire's Ritesh Mehra wrote that the film "is commendable in how it demonstrates the unique silent pains borne by many queer men who, despite their male privilege, have to fight to remain unattached (same sex marriage is illegal in India), to not be infantilized, and to realize relationships longer lasting than quick clandestine sex."[14]
Tatsam Mukherjee at The Wire remarked "Kanawade’s film goes full monty, by addressing queer folks in Indian villages – places often even without the vocabulary for it. But it steers clear of the hostility and venom one might expect to arise from such a situation. Sabar Bonda, in fact, goes in the other direction by shining a light on the cowardice of society – especially while facing someone who owns their sexual identity."[15]
The film won the Audience Award for narrative features, and Bhushaan Manoj won the award for Best Performance, at the 2025 Inside Out Film and Video Festival.[16]
References
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- ^ "'Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)' marks India's sole representation at Sundance Film Festival 2025". Lokmat, 12 December 2024.
- ^ a b "‘Sabar Bonda’ makes history as first Marathi film at Sundance 2025". The Statesman, 12 December 2024.
- ^ David Katz, "Sundance to host a well-stocked line-up of European productions". Cineuropa, 12 December 2024.
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- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Zac Ntim, "Göteborg Film Festival: Laura Carreira’s ‘On Falling’ Among Titles Set For Ingmar Bergman Competition". Deadline Hollywood, 27 December 2024.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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- ^ Jamie Casemore, "Really Happy Someday wins Inside Out 2025’s Best Canadian Feature". Playback, June 3, 2025.
External links
[edit | edit source]- Sabar Bonda at IMDbLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 2025 films
- 2025 drama films
- 2025 LGBTQ-related films
- Indian drama films
- Indian LGBTQ-related films
- British drama films
- British LGBTQ-related films
- Canadian drama films
- Canadian LGBTQ-related films
- 2020s British films
- 2020s Canadian films
- 2020s Indian films
- 2020s LGBTQ-related drama films
- 2020s Marathi-language films
- Marathi-language drama films
- Sundance Film Festival award–winning films