Cactus Pears (Marathi: Sabar Bonda) is a 2025 romantic drama film, written and directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade in his feature directorial debut.[1] A co-production between India, Canada and the United Kingdom, the film centres on 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).[2]
The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival,[3] the only Indian film in competition and the first Marathi language film ever to premiere at the festival; it would go on to win the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize Dramatic at the festival.[2][4][5]
Cast
Bhushaan Manoj as Anand
Suraaj Suman as Balya
Jayshri Jagtap as Suman
Release
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.[6][7][5] It is also slated to screen at the 2025 Göteborg Film Festival.[8]
Reception
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."[9]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."[10]
Tatsam Mukherjee at The Wire (India) 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."[11]
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