Paris-based sales outfit MPM Premium has acquired international rights to “Cactus Pears” (Sabar Bonda), the feature directorial debut from India’s Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, ahead of its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it is in the world cinema dramatic competition.
The Marathi-language film follows Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, where he tenderly bonds with a local farmer Balya (Suraaj Suman) struggling to stay unmarried.
The genesis of the film came from Kanawade’s personal experience. “My father passed away in 2016 and before that, almost for a decade, I was avoiding going to my village because everyone there was constantly talking about marriage,” Kanawade told Variety. “When my dad passed away, my mother decided that we should go to the village so that all the relatives who live there can come and meet us, and they can be part of the 10-day ritual as well.”
The director found himself contemplating escape during this period. “I started thinking, what if I had a friend over here who knew about my sexuality, so I could have just sneaked out for a while and stayed away from this pressure,” he said. “That thought stayed with me, and I started thinking more about it. While I was doing that, I thought this is an interesting premise for a story where I can also weave in grief and love, and how love can help this person to come over grief.”
“For once, it was moving away from all the tropes that we see in the conventional LGBT films,” producer Neeraj Churi said. “The way the entire story unfolds, I thought it was so organic, and it was very close to some of the experiences I have had growing up in India.”
“We want to present these two men as normal as any other man,” Kanawade added. “Sexuality can never be your identity. It’s just a part of your life. That’s why we never even in our logline use it as romance between two gay men, it’s just two men.”
The film faced significant financing challenges. “Making independent films is anyway hard, and then when you have sexuality added to it, in India, in a regional language, it became even more hard,” Kanawade said. A major financier, who had agreed to provide 60-70% of the budget, pulled out after production began. The project received crucial early support from the queer community. “At the end of the day, friends from the queer community actually came on board to fund this project in the initial days so that we could actually shoot the film,” Kanawade said.
The film is produced by Churi, Mohamed Khaki, Kaushik Ray, Hareesh Reddypalli, Naren Chandavarkar, and Sidharth Meer, with Ilann Girard and Kishor Vasant Sawant serving as executive producers.
Regarding distribution prospects in India, Churi expressed optimism about changing audience attitudes. “Based on the success that Indian films have enjoyed internationally, there is a bit more openness for stories such as these that have international acclaim to be released here,” he said. “It’s not necessarily a queer film – it’s also a film about connections, family, re-establishing connections in the light of a loss, which are quite universal themes.”
MPM Premium praised the film’s “grace and warmth” in depicting “a tender romance forged between two men sent to a forced marriage to women that they will never love.” The company noted the film’s potential to build on the recent success of contemporary Indian cinema following titles like “All We Imagine As Light” and “Santosh.”
MPM Premium’s current slate features French romantic comedies “Vanishing Goats,” “This Charming Girl” (presented at the RDV de Paris), Latin thrillers “Fine Young Men” and “A Yard of Jackals,” as well as festival favorites “Red Path,” “Something Old Something New Something Borrowed” and “The Antique.”
