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Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s critically acclaimed Marathi film Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) was screened as part of the SCREEN Film Club at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai on Tuesday. It was the first Marathi film to be screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and even won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic. It subsequently released in Indian cinemas in August, backed by Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media.
After the screening, Shubhra Gupta, columnist The Indian Express film critic, moderated a chat with the film’s team before opening it up to more queries from the audience. Among the team members present were producer Neeraj Churi, actors Bhushaan Manoj and Jayshri Jagtap, and actor Jim Sarbh, who’s attached to the film as an co-producer.
“I remember halfway through the film, I had this pit in my stomach. Please do not let this end in tragedy because 90% of the films you see about LGBTQ stories, they end in horrible tragedy,” said Sarbh after the screening. “And actually, what that does is it creates an impression that that’s the reality. That’s what is true. Well, it’s not what is true. There are myriad stories, and many of them end very happily and successfully. So, I loved this film was such a tender approach to what most often ends in tragedy,” he added.
Sarbh remarked that he really enjoyed the fact that Sabar Bonda wasn’t condescending. “It wasn’t like the city boy teaches the village boy about this urban concept. It’s a biological fact. It exists all over. And Suraj, in many, many ways, leads Anand very simply and lovingly,” he said. The matter-of-factness of homosexuality in the film also emanates from the director’s own coming out story.
“Rohan said his coming out was the most anticlimactic situation of his life,” revealed Neeraj, adding, “His father wasn’t particularly educated. He was a chauffeur. Rohan always felt he wouldn’t understand because Rohan’s educated friends, who were from upper class, they had a tough time coming out. There were horror stories. So, Rohan said he was expecting something worse.”
Neeraj revealed that Rohan’s coming out story lasted less than a minute. “His father asked him why he’s upset. He said, ‘Well, I was with a man who isn’t around anymore.’ So, his father said, ‘Well, at least we know you are.’ And that was it. And his mother was also very supportive,” said Neeraj, adding, “Obviously, he believes wisdom and education are not necessarily co-related, and that’s what he wanted to show through this story.”
Rohan also sought a semblance of his truth in the actors who played Anand, the protagonist, and Suman, his mother. “When I met Rohan for the first time, he wanted to cast me because I was quite similar to the character. I was sitting in a corner and not talking much,” recalled Bhushaan, who plays Anand.
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Jayshri was one of the first actors to come on board, and even pushed Rohan to take the film on floors. “The character was mostly based on Rohan’s mother. So, I shadowed his mother and observed her mannerisms. Rohan’s mother is a woman of few words, but she cares a lot. She speaks through her eyes. So, that’s how I modelled the role on her,” she revealed.
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