Sabar Bonda (2025) offers a calm, intimate view of queer lives beyond India’s cities and arrives in a charged legal moment. In 2023 the Supreme Court heard Supriyo v. Union of India, a set of petitions seeking recognition for same-sex marriages. The Union of India, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, told the Court that queerness was an "urban elite" phenomenon; the Court rejected that assessment. Writing for the minority, former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud noted that available literature and reporting show queerness is not limited to cities or to wealthy people. The Court stopped short of granting full marriage rights, but it affirmed the authenticity of queer lives, asked the government to consider a legal framework, and clarified that the right to marry is not a fundamental right and that changes to marriage law lie with the legislature.
The film was made by Rohan, a queer director who grew up in a one-room home in a Mumbai slum with a chauffeur father and a homemaker mother. Rohan blends personal experience and fiction to tell a gentle story about grief, desire and family. The plot follows Anand (Bhushan Manoj), a call-centre worker who returns to his village in Maharashtra for the traditional ten-day mourning period after his father’s death. There he reconnects with Balya (Suraaj Suman), a local farmer, and a tender bond grows as Anand faces family pressure to marry.
Sabar Bonda, which translates as Cactus Pears, uses the fruit as a metaphor: thorny on the outside, sweet inside. It is notable for being in Marathi, a language that has produced fewer queer narratives compared with Hindi cinema. The film avoids familiar trauma-focused tropes: Anand’s mother quietly supports him and later makes space for Anand and Balya to live together. The words "gay" or "queer" are not used, but motifs of queerness are clear.
The film won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The Film Critics Guild rated it 8.6/10 and tweeted on September 19, 2025 that it released that day in select theatres across India. Reviewers described the film as "a lyrical, languid journey of self-discovery and belonging" and used phrases such as "something crisp," "a beautiful and simple film," and "a quiet revolution." By foregrounding rural queer lives and subtle family support, Sabar Bonda asks how queer couples can navigate marriage and belonging without clear legal or social backing and aims to expand public imagination about where queer life exists in India today.
Difficult words
- petition — a formal request made to a court or authoritypetitions
- recognition — official acceptance or legal approval
- legislature — a group that makes or changes the law
- chauffeur — a person who drives someone else professionally
- homemaker — a person who manages a household and family
- metaphor — a way to describe one thing as another
- trope — a common theme or storytelling devicetropes
- mourning period — a traditional time of grieving after a death
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How might the Court asking the government to consider a legal framework affect queer couples in places without legal recognition? Give one possible positive and one possible negative effect.
- The film shows family support without using the words "gay" or "queer." How could this subtle portrayal influence public attitudes in rural areas?
- Sabar Bonda uses the cactus pear as a metaphor (thorny outside, sweet inside). How effective is this kind of metaphor for telling stories about identity and belonging? Give reasons.
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