Love, Loss, and a Comeback

Rohan Kanawade speaks about his critically acclaimed film, Sabar Bonda, and what it means to explore queerness in the narrative

- By PUJA TALWAR

It was as much a comeback as a win for Rohan Kanawade at Sundance this year. The festival that rejected the screenplay of Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) four years ago crowned the Marathi queer drama World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in 2025, a first and a major milestone for Indian cinema. After a months-long run in festival circuits, the film is out in theatres.

Part autobiographical, part fiction, Sabar Bonda tells a tender love story between two young men in a village in Maharashtra. Beyond the lens of queerness, it explores grief, expectations, and the friendship between the city-bred Anand (Bhushan Manoj), who returns to his village to mourn the loss of his father, and Ballya (Suraj Sumaan), a farmer and Anand’s long-lost school friend. Through mourning and loss, the two reconnect, and their friendship transforms into something deeper.