Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s Sabar Bonda was the first Marathi film ever to be nominated for the Sundance Film Festival 2025. It has made India proud by bagging the Award for World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, at the celebrated film festival.
Bhushaan Manoj and Suraaj Suman play the lead characters in Sabar Bonda. It is a story of two men, who reignite their love for each other, as they meet in a rural village, in Maharashtra.
The film has been co-produced between India, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Actor Jim Sarbh is also a producer, for the first time, on this project. He was present during the world premiere of the film at the festival, along with the entire cast and crew.
?The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic goes to “Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears).” pic.twitter.com/miJqpenf3c
— Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest) January 31, 2025
The official synopsis of the film, states, “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.”
India’s winning streak at the Sundance Film Festival continues with Sabar Bonda.
Last year, Suchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, produced by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, bagged The Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic category. The lead actress Preeti Panigrahi also won the Special Jury Award for Acting.
The documentary film titled Nocturnes, helmed by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft.
Previously, in 2021, Writing with Fire won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award, while All That Breathes won the Grand Jury Prize in 2022.
Against The Tide won the Special Jury Award for Verite Filmmaking in 2023.
