Sundance Film Festival 2025: India's Sabar Bonda wins Grand Jury Prize

HT at Sundance | Sabar Bonda was the first ever Marathi feature film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. It has now won the top prize.

Marathi filmmaker Rohan Parashuram Kanawade's Sabar Bonda has made India proud at the 2025 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. The film which was the only Indian feature film to premiere at the festival, has now won the top prize- the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. (Also read: Sabar Bonda director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade says queer characters from rural areas are not shown on screen)

Bhushaan Manoj and Suraaj Suman in a still from Sabar Bonda.

Sabar Bonda wins big

The announcement was made by the official social media site of the festival on Friday evening.

Sabar Bonda stars Bhushaan Manoj and Suraaj Suman as two men who meet in a rural village of Maharashtra and rekindle their love for each other. The film is co-production between India, United Kingdom and Canada. The cast and crew of the film, including first time producer Jim Sarbh was present at the festival on the occasion of its world premiere.

About the film

The official synopsis of the film reads, “Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.”

An excerpt from the Hindustan Times review of the film read, “Kanawade's filmmaking here is precise and personal, which makes Sabar Bonda such a piercingly honest document on Indian queer lives. This is a giant leap forward in terms of queer representation in Indian Cinema. Recognising what one wants to believe and who they want to love- isn't that everything? One should be allowed to choose both without any fear.”

Sabar Bonda's win continues the unbroken streak of Indian films winning at the prestigious festival in consecutive years. In 2024, Shuchi Talati's Girls Will Be Girls, produced by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal won The Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic category, and the Special Jury Award for Acting for its lead actor Preeti Panigrahi; and documentary film Nocturnes, directed by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, won World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft. Previously, Writing with Fire won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award in 2021; All That Breathes which won the Grand Jury Prize in 2022; and Against The Tide won the Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking in 2023.