Rohan Parashuram Kanawade attends the premiere of “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)” at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Egyptian Theatre on January 26, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Sandy Phan
Writer-director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade walks onstage to a welcoming round of applause from the audience as Basil Tsiokos, senior programmer at the Festival, introduces the world premiere of Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Tsiokos describes it as a “fresh take on queer themes in an unexpected setting,” filled with compassion and warmth.
Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) invites you to travel with Anand (Bhushaan Manoj) and his mother, Suman (Jayshri Jagtap), as they go back to their ancestral home for his late father’s burial. During the ten-day mourning period in their rural community in India, Anand develops a romantic relationship with a farmer, Bayla (Suraaj Suman), and he must decide whether he wants to commit to his feelings.
At the Q&A after the premiere, Kanawade shares that Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) is loosely based on his own life, growing up as gay man in the Mumbai slums. “This was inspired by my experience of grieving for my father in my village in 2016. Before that, for 10 years, I had avoided going to my village because everyone was talking about marriage, and I wanted to avoid that discussion. When my father passed away, I had to go … I couldn’t escape.”
During his 10-day grieving period, Kanawade recalls, “What if I had a friend there who knew about me, and I could sneak out for a while and stay away from this place? I was thinking about escape, and that part stayed with me. Through this film, I can change that experience and make it a warm journey for those characters.”
(L–R) Suraaj Suman, Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, Jayshri Jagtap, Neeraj Churi, and Bhushaan Manoj attend the premiere of “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)” at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Egyptian Theatre on January 26, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
The casting process began in 2021, but finding the right actors to play Anand and Bayla took three years. Kanawade says, “I wanted to find an actor for Anand who is from that region but who also lives in the city, and thankfully, I found Manoj … and so I asked him, ‘Do you have any actor friends from the city, too?’” Laughter rolls through the audience.
“I wanted to be part of this film,” Manoj says, standing onstage. “When I read the script, it was so subtle and silent … there’s a lot happening inside.” Suman adds, “I didn’t approach it as a gay role. I thought of it as human beings who suffer in silence and are not able to bring their stories to other people about themselves, and that’s why the role attracted me.”
The complexity of Anand and Bayla’s relationship is beautifully portrayed by Manoj and Suman. One character whose parents have accepted him, and the other whose parents are frustrated by their son’s reluctance to accept an arranged marriage. There is a quiet quality of understanding in their body language, and layered in their relationship are the external expectations and norms.
Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) considers what it means to be queer in rural India amid traditional familial and societal pressures. It unfolds a tender romance between two men while showcasing the support and powerful encouragement of a mother-son relationship in adult life.
