Rohan Parashuram Kanawade바카라s Sabar Bonda made history by becoming the first Marathi film to premiere at the Sundance film festival 2025 in Park City, Utah. Armed with his primary cast members, co-producers Jim Sarbh, Naren Chandavarkar among others, Kanawade came on stage of the Egyptian Theatre to a rousing applause from an audience that included Daniel Kaluyya. Safe to say, for such a culturally specific and restrained film, it found its takers.
The story of two men reconnecting during a sudden visit to the ancestral village, Kanawade바카라s film does a fine job of correcting the narrative. Most films around queer characters tend to mine its tragic circumstances 바카라 but what is charming and defiant about Sabar Bonda is how it remains authentic to its own voice. Aware of the tropes of a standard queer love story in a regressive setting, Kanawade subverts audience expectations by being restrained.
A self-taught filmmaker, Kanawade attributes his parents as his most important cheerleaders for his 18-year journey to make his debut as a feature film director. He had good instincts even when he didn바카라t have the resources at his disposal. 바카라We didn바카라t have a way to record sound properly (in the early short films), so I decided to make silent films 바카라 with title cards appearing between scenes,바카라 he says. The journey has been long, riddled with disappointments and doubt, but Kanawade is on the big stage now.
Right before making history by becoming the first Marathi film to win the Grand Jury prize in the World Cinema competition of the Sundance film festival 2025, Kanawade spoke to Outlook about the making of the film, finding his directorial voice, and how there바카라s no need for drama in every film centered around queer characters. Edited excerpts:
What바카라s your first memory of a film?
The first ever film that my father took me to watch, it was called Maherchi Saadi (1991). It felt like a huge TV, and I asked my father about it. He very patiently explained that it wasn바카라t a huge TV, and that there was a projector on one end of the screen. I don바카라t remember anything about the film per se, and I was interested in learning about the gadgets. Was the screen flat or curved? It바카라s what I was interested in. It was this theatre called Topiwala in Goregaon, I바카라m not sure if it바카라s still around.
You changed tracks from interior designing to filmmaking in 2010. Was there a particular moment that prompted this?
I was always interested in films, and I never knew I would grow up to make films. Jurassic Park is when I fell in love with the sound of cinema. There was this chapter in my Marathi textbook in 10th standard, which inspired me to write my own short story. So, these were elements that I discovered along the way, which got me excited. When I completed my 10th standard 바카라 I was terrible at Maths and Science, so I was kind of sure that I didn바카라t want to go to college. My Dad바카라s boss suggested Interior Design because I was good at drawing. I had no clue, and he explained it to me.
Even while I was doing my interior designing, I was still writing short stories. Then in 2007, this friend of mine pushed me to make a short film for this competition. This friend of mine had a Nokia phone with a 1.5 megapixel camera, and this other friend said he had a computer at home 바카라 and we very naively set out to make the short film. We never ended up completing it because the computer would hang each time we would open the project on it, but I fell in love with the process.
The Internet was a huge bonus for me - I watched the interviews of my favourite directors, the BTS footage of my favourite films, and just overall watched as many movies as I could.
So, in 2007, when you realised you wished to make the switch 바카라 how old were you?
I바카라m terrible at math, but I바카라m 38 right now. So, you바카라ll have to help me with this.
So you were around 20 when you attempted to make your first short.
Yes, I바카라d just finished my degree in Interior Designing. I바카라d just about begun my first job. Do you remember the aftermath of the Mumbai floods? I바카라d bought this tiny Chinese camera, and I used it to document the floods in my area.
Between 2010 to making your feature debut in 2025 바카라 what바카라s that journey been like?
I always say this, I was extremely, extremely lucky. I had certain people in my life 바카라 who have supported me no matter what. First, it was my Dad. Then this architect friend 바카라 he said he didn바카라t have a lot of work, so I could make a fixed amount of salary every month 바카라 but I바카라ll also have the time to work on my writing and films. He loves films too, and that바카라s probably the reason he has decided to help me out. Also, lastly, my partner and I have been living together since 2014. If not for these people, I don바카라t think I would have been able to do anything in the world of filmmaking.
Coming from relatively fewer means 바카라 what are the additional obstacles you바카라ve had to face as a filmmaker, something an upper-class 'struggling filmmaker' would know nothing about?
I think it depends and varies from film to film. The hyper-realistic film I was trying to make, with little to no background music, was a challenge to raise money for. I don바카라t know if I바카라ll face the same challenges when I pitch my next film, which will be different from this. Since the film is so faithful to my actual life, making it without sanitising or diluting the ground reality was the biggest challenge. We got no support from established producers of the mainstream Marathi industry.
You mention Sairat (2016) in the film 바카라 how much do you think its success has to do with raising the profile of Marathi cinema? Was it a coincidence, or an intentional hat-tip?
Not really, it just so happened that around the time I went to the village in 2016, everyone was obsessed with Sairat and its album. So, the mention was to situate it in a particular time more than anything. It grounds the story in a reality.
Do you remember the first scene from Sabar Bonda that helped crystalise the idea that you have a film script in hand?
Since 2013, I바카라ve been writing feature films. I바카라ve written my fair share of 바카라bad scripts바카라, which I was doing along with my shorts. I바카라d written three scripts before Sabar Bonda 바카라 they didn바카라t get much support. For me, ideas have a long gestating period, so I don바카라t work on them immediately. I had the idea for Sabar Bonda, while I was mourning my father in 2016, but then I didn바카라t start working on it till around 2020. That바카라s when I began to see the first scene of the film in my head. I toyed with it for about two-three weeks, and then I wrote the scene. It was after that I was sure that I have something feature-film worthy in this. And I directly jump into the screenplay 바카라 I don바카라t write outlines, character arcs etc. The scene eventually got cut out in the successive drafts of the film, but it did provide me with the jump-off point.
We went to the labs, and we kept getting feedback. I always knew it was going to be a feature film.
Your credits list 10 co-producers including actor Jim Sarbh, musician Naren Chandavarkar and colorist Sid Meer. How did you get in touch with them?
I didn바카라t know them. But I had this wish that if we do our post-production work in India, I wanted to work with Sid Meer (of Bridge PostWorks). We were at the NFDC co-production market in 2022, and we pitched our film. Naren and Sid were there, and in a party that day they mentioned that they바카라d like to meet me and my producer. They helped us to finish our post production by coming on board as co-producers.
Depicting gay desire on screen can be tricky 바카라 I think it바카라s one of your biggest successes in the film. What did you have to keep in mind before going on floors?
It was one of the most important things we discussed with our actors, while getting them on board. I wasn바카라t looking at it as gay desire 바카라 because the whole point of the film was this was a love story between two individuals 바카라 not gay men. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I think that simplicity is what is radical about the moments in the film, because we just haven바카라t seen two men in each other바카라s arms. It바카라s just that. We only see them fighting, being toxic to each other 바카라 but we hardly ever see just affection.
When you바카라re a cinephile and wish to make films 바카라 how do you separate your voice and the voice of the influence of having seen it in another film?
Thank you for this question, because it바카라s something that haunts me in almost every choice I make as a director. I love watching as much cinema as I can, but I think while making films I do try to leave out any impressions from the outside. I love photography, and I think I always saw things in my own way. Observing life helps me craft my own language.
Were there any films on your radar whose elements you were fascinated by while making Sabar Bonda?
Some of the films that inspired me were Amour (2012; by Michael Haneke), Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Hirokazu Kore-eda. I think Kore-eda and Ceylan바카라s films unfold like novels. I knew I wanted Sabar Bonda to leave the audience with this feeling, something I was left with after watching their films. I don바카라t think I wanted to limit myself in terms of style 바카라 it바카라s something that will evolve with respect to the story. So, I바카라d like my style to serve the story.
LGBTQI issues have been considered the domain of the privileged. There바카라s a disconnect even within the community. Do you think films like yours can help bridge the gap?
That바카라s exactly why we wanted to make this film. I바카라ve seen LGBTQI stories on screen, and rarely felt represented in them. A significant queer population lives with fewer means, and we hardly see their stories on screen. I had to tell my own story 바카라 no one else is going to do it for me. So, I just went ahead with my own observations, and tried to be as authentic as possible to my story.
I loved the film바카라s quiet nature 바카라 it builds up to this dramatic confrontation, but then it doesn바카라t happen.
What you바카라re saying is your impression of stories you바카라ve probably seen/watched before. And that바카라s why I think it helped that I was writing my own story 바카라 something that had happened in my own life. I never even had the thought of the confrontation. One of my mentors in a lab even told me that the two men should stand up for their rights, there should be a meltdown. To which I politely said 바카라 it바카라s not that kind of a film. But I did eventually partially take their note, and that바카라s how that scene of Anand defiantly telling his relatives he doesn바카라t wish to marry, in the end. I got the gist of what the advice was, and I incorporated it in my own way. There바카라s still no big confrontation in the film, but everything is also not super smooth. I believe people can navigate their way through life, and live on their own terms. There바카라s no need for drama.
*Sabar Bonda premiered at the Sundance film festival 2025, and won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Drama Competition.
