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Sabar Bonda director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade says queer characters from rural areas are not shown on screen

Jan 21, 2025 06:15 AM IST

HT at Sundance | Sabar Bonda is the first-ever Marathi language feature to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) is going to Sundance! The Marathi feature film is the only Indian film at the prestigious film festival this year. The beautiful, tender film revolves around a 30-something city dweller named Anand who must return to his ancestral home to mourn the death of his father. There, an unexpected bond develops with another man, Balya.

Sabar Bonda director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade talks about representation of queer characters on screen.
Sabar Bonda director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade talks about representation of queer characters on screen.

Ahead of the world premiere of the film at Sundance next week, writer-director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade sat down with Hindustan Times for an exclusive chat where he talked about delving into his own memories to develop the character of Anand, the representation of queer characters in Indian cinema, and the experience of shooting the film in his native village. (Also read: Sundance Film Festival to continue as planned despite LA wildfires chaos: 'We may mourn, but it's important to carry on')

Tell me a little about finding the character of Anand in Sabar Bonda and the moment you knew you wanted to tell the story of this particular human being.

The story is inspired by my own experiences of grieving my father. Most of what Anand is going through is what I have seen. I did not have to really create Anand, it was always there. Many things that happen to him are fictionalised, but I wanted to recreate that whole mourning period but wanted to reimagine certain parts from that journey. Anand in a way, his quietness, is because of all the restrictions. He can't really ‘come out’ to his relatives, and the only option for him is to be quiet and endure all the things. At the same time, when he meets the character of Balya and when he is with him, that's when we see him smile.

Sabar Bonda focuses on queer characters who come from the lower class, where the idea of ‘coming out’ might not be an option. How important a choice was this for you to show that these people exist, not merely away from us but around us.

No, I mean for that reason when I was not out to my parents, the few people who knew about my sexuality told me that this is not for us, this is for rich people. But then I was living, I had some existence in this world. When I used to go to my native land, I used to wonder if there are any gay men here. After my schooling, I did not go there, and later many queer people connected with me on Instagram because of my work. It is natural. There are queer people in all spaces, in rural areas everywhere. But we don't see that on screen, and that is the sad part.

Whenever I saw queer films made in India, I never saw people who were like me. I never saw myself in them, the truth that I feel, the way I live my life. That is why I write my own script and the way I want to tell queer stories. My socio-economic background was my inspiration, my time in that village, all of that culminated into the story of Sabar Bonda.

Tell me about the experience of filming Sabar Bonda in your mother's village. How much of that authenticity seeped in…

Whenever I used to go to my mother's village as a kid, I must mention I used to hate going there because it is so far away. Even now when we were shooting it the team realized how difficult it is to go there and shoot because there is no phone network so we had to use walkie-talkies. There are no cars or buses so we had to endure that journey of reaching the spot every day.

When I was a kid, we had to get down from the bus, walk almost for an hour with our bags and then climb a mountain, walk a mountain, and then walk a plateau, then go down the mountain to reach the village. So it is completely surrounded by mountains from all sides. I used to love the colours there; the brown and heat, the way I remember that place is how I showed it in the film.

I spent three years looking for location but I did not get much success. Then my executive producer came and said that you cannot get everything so there has to be some compromise. Then I went back to the village again, and finally something worked out, with the open spaces and the buildings located close to each other. When I went there, it did work out. My family was so happy, and many of them helped us with the shoot. The experience of shooting that film was amazing.

As a filmmaker are there any specific stories or characters that you feel gravitated towards?

Not really. I think because my short film is entirely different from what I have done now. It is just that there are some situations and characters that become interesting. For that matter, I want to make a horror film. I just want to make films that I want to see. In that sense, I want to make a film with dinosaurs! (laughs)

Sabar Bonda is the first Marathi feature film to be selected at Sundance, which is huge! What is your headspace right now, ahead of the premiere?

I am of course nervous and happy and there are so many emotions. I also feel comfortable in a way because I am so eager to meet the Sundance team. When we got the news of the selection, since then the Sundance team has been so supportive. I am really very excited. It is really the first time that I am going to such a big festival, and want to see how the audience reacts to our film. I am excited to experience that feeling.

Santanu Das is covering Sundance Film Festival 2025 as part of the accredited press.

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