Adelaide Film Festival review: Cactus Pears
The first-ever Marathi language film to premiere at Sundance, Cactus Pears is a lesson in presence and community, allowing grief and connection to walk together through a beautiful queer love story.
Rohan Kanawade’s feature directorial debut, Cactus Pears (Sabar Bonda), first made waves at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the prestigious World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. The film has since continued capturing hearts around the world.
Cactus Pears observes Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a Mumbai call-centre worker who returns to the West Indian countryside to fulfil his role in a 10-day mourning ritual, following his father’s passing.
Throughout the 10-day period, Anand reconnects with his childhood friend Balya (Suraaj Suman), a farmer living in the village, and the two share a tender, romantic relationship.
Cactus Pears is loosely based on director Kanawade’s own lived experience of mourning his father in his ancestral village and the claustrophobic pressures he felt as a queer, unmarried man, navigating the experience alone.
Kanawade has purposefully rewritten his own story, however, to include something he so desperately desired at the time: someone to share his life with. Not only has Kanwade rewritten his own narrative, but also the narrative of what Indian queer cinema can be.
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Queer representation in Indian cinema is seldom uplifting, often rooted in queer stories of trauma and shame. Kanawade presents a new vision of love amongst a traditional community, however. Not by eradicating the societal pressures that Anand faces but by grounding his film in moments of genuine connection and love, in spite of them.
Anand’s relationship with his mother (Jayshri Jagtap) and recently departed father echoes Kanawade’s own real-life experience with his parents, who also supported his coming out within a culture that demands conformity.
Shot in Kanawade’s mother’s ancestral village, the film features many non-professional actors, making for a seamless, often vivid portrayal of country life in India. The simplicity of rural living is a poignant feature of Cactus Pears, something that lends the film a distinctive sense of place but is appealing to a wide-ranging audience. The film’s rural setting speaks to a desire in many of us to re-connect with nature and with those parts of ourselves that get lost or overlooked in a busy, urban lifestyle.
Throughout the film, Kanawade compels us to sit with patience, employing long, still shots while his characters move in and out of frame, interacting with each other. Such techniques create a deep sense of authenticity, as if the world that the film depicts will continue to exist long beyond the film’s running time. Sitting still becomes just as enthralling as action or dialogue.
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Much of Anand and Balya’s relationship remains unsaid. They never once utter the words ‘dating’ or ‘gay’, but instead acknowledge the love they share as “special friends”. In stepping outside of conventional social roles, they let their feelings wash over them, without the need for explanation.
Their relationship is portrayed as both subtle and tender; with Balya at one point referencing a reoccurring dream of them sitting underneath mango trees together. A simple wish, meaningful for them both. Humble expressions of love or admiration are similarly dotted throughout the film, helping to convey the couple’s shared connection.
There is great authenticity in Bhushaan Manoj’s performance as Anand, also, a weight that seems to be carried from a lifetime of hiding. By the end of the film, you feel as though you have lived alongside Anand, walking the delicate line between staying true to yourself and to your community.
A beautifully crafted love story and exploration of humanity, Cactus Pears offers a thoughtful contribution to queer cinema, Indian filmmaking and to contemporary film more broadly.
Cactus Pears screens again on Saturday October 25, 8.30pm at Palace Nova Eastend as part of the Adelaide Film Festival
This review was provided by the ‘2025 Emerging Screen Critics Program’ – a Screen Studies collaboration between the Adelaide Film Festival and UniSA Creative, with the participation of students and mentors from the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. Supported by InReview.