A scene from ‘Sabar Bonda’. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Breaking Western notions of queer love stories, Rohan Kanawade focuses on suede bonda (Cactus Pierce), is the only Indian film at the Sundance Film Festival this year. Held in Utah, the festival runs from January 23 to February 2.
Partly autobiographical, partly fictional, the film traces the tender love story of two young men from a Maharashtrian village. Coming from an ordinary background, Anand, a young, educated, city-raised gay man, returns to his native village to mourn his father’s demise and perform some rituals to his mother’s satisfaction.
During a period of mourning, he develops a tender bond with a school friend he left behind. If grief brings insecurity, love provides strength to survive her seemingly homophobic surroundings; Despite being found in harsh and dry environments, this cactus is like the soft and nutritious core of a pear.
“I wanted to tell a queer story based on our society and culture, where coming out to parents is not always a sad memory,” says Rohan ahead of the film’s premiere at Sundance, the best confluence of independent cinema.
Saabar Bonda director Rohan Parshuram Kanawade. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Rohan says that as a child he fell in love with film projectors and “the light coming out of little dark holes”. After trying his hand at interior design, he found his true identity in cinema. Although Rohan has more favorite films than favorite filmmakers, he considers Satyajit Ray an inspiration for the way the master portrayed some of his rural stories. Then there’s Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who, like Rohan, used his parents and cousins to tell his stories early on.
he finds celian Once Upon a Time in Anatolia And clouds of may Things close to his sensibility and about Michael Haneke fun game And love“Filmmakers like him create experiences. I also wanted to create an experience for the audience. “He inspired me to explore different ways of telling stories.”
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suede bonda Inspired by Rohan’s experience in his native village near Shirdi in 2016. Born and brought up in Mumbai, he says, this was his first visit to the village in 10 years. “When I last went there, I was in 10th class and there were still talks of my marriage. I didn’t want to get into that conversation. So I stopped going there. When my father passed away, there was no way for me to escape as my mother wanted to meet relatives and perform rituals. I knew that once I went there the topic of marriage would come up again because all my cousins were married and some of them even had children.”
Rohan says that instead of thinking about his loss, he was worried about what questions he would be asked. “At that time, I started wondering what if I had a friend here who knew about me? Instead of mourning my loss, I would sneak out with her and be away from the pressure. That idea stayed with me,” reflects Rohan. Over time, he re-imagined that entire experience and made it a journey for the central protagonist.
The son of a driver, Rohan says he didn’t face any struggles in coming out and has used his experience to shape the story of Anand and his friend Balya. “My father did not complete his schooling and my mother is uneducated, but when I shared my sexuality with him he immediately accepted my sexuality. There was no drama. Wisdom does not come from education. My father said that he would not like to ruin any girl’s life by marrying me. I could see that my parents’ love for me was greater than any social pressure. “We see people struggling to come out, but that is not the only truth.”
He says, parental support is also the reason why Anand yearns for home as he sees it as a safe place. However, he does not come out to his relatives because it might damage his mother’s relationship with them.
Coming from a different social and educational stratum of Baliya, Rohan says that during his stay he learned that farmers in this region remain alone for a long time as most of the women seek opportunities in the city. When reimagining the relationship, he wondered what would happen if someone used the situation to remain celibate.
Screening at Sundance means a lot to Rohan as he says he always wanted his films to be screened at big international film festivals. His first attempts failed due to lack of interest from producers. “I was told that Marathi audiences were not ready for this experience,” he says. I wrote this film for my own pleasure and the response has come as confirmation of that. I hope the Sundance selection will encourage Marathi producers to be brave and support more independent films.”
published – January 23, 2025 12:57 PM IST
