Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media will be distributing filmmaker Rohan Kanawade’s Marathi film Sabar Bonda (English title: Cactus Pears), which will release in theatres soon. The movie recently had its moment of glory when it became the first Indian fiction film to win the Grand Jury Prize under the World Cinema: Dramatic category at the Sundance Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Rana Daggubati on backing Sundance winner Sabar Bonda, “It was All We Imagine As Light that pushed us to take this film”

The win has, obviously, delighted Daggubati. Sharing his reaction in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, he said, “It’s always exciting when the globe is looking at India. Now, it’s happening more and more. Whether it is alternative films that are happening in India or whether it is the storytellers that have been able to tell these honest stories, having an audience in the rest of the world is certainly something to look forward to.”

Sabar Bonda, which is about a queer individual, is the second time that Daggubati has won big as a distributor. His firm Spirit Media was also the distributor for Payal Kapadia’s globally acclaimed All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival last year.

“The intent of Spirit Media, the company I founded, was to tell stories that are alternative and find voices for creators and filmmakers that don’t usually get a mainstream platform,” said Daggubati. “We continued to do this in Telugu as there was a little more control in the knowledge of the ecosystem we had, in terms of releasing these films.”

Daggubati revealed that Kapadia’s movie prompted them to back Sabar Bonda. “It was All We Imagine As Light that kind of pushed us to take this film and (thought) how are we going to release it in India,” he said. “The fact that it was made in Malayalam and it had bits of Hindi and Marathi in that film. It didn’t matter where the film was made. But there was an audience in the entire country that watched it. We understood that there is an audience for this cinema. It’s just that there was never an ecosystem for them to connect to follow this.”

Sharing what impressed him about Sabar Bonda, Daggubati said, “When Sabar Bonda came in, it had everything that was truthful. Rohan made a film which was very true to him. I think nobody else could have told the story the way he told it. Such a positive spin on a queer story; this is something I had never seen before. The craft was the next thing that caught the attention whether it’s the usage of camera, sound, the intent that he had in transporting us to that village. It was quite special. What we liked about it is the fact that you can pick a topic that was so taboo in a country like India and give it a positive spin, great end and give it a feeling of hope and acceptance.’

Daggubati also found something else in the film that stayed with him. “It was the mother and son relationship which is kind of common for everybody, which comes out beautifully in this film,” he said. The film stars Bhushaan Manoj and Suraaj Suman in pivotal roles.

He added, “This is his (Rohan’s) early work. I think it’s fantastic for a filmmaker who is so young to make something so true and honest. I am just looking forward to him diversifying and making more and more cinema in the future.”

When asked about his expectations from Sabar Bonda at the box office, Daggubati said, “I am discovering the box office as much as you are right now. It’s too early on to even gauge what numbers it can (make). I can tell you we will open with 60-70 screens for sure. And then we will understand what the word of mouth is and scale it accordingly.”

Will Rana Daggubati be backing more Marathi films in the future? “I will be backing any movie that is truthful. It doesn’t matter (the language). But yes, I am looking forward to do a lot more things in Marathi,” he said.

Also Read: Anupam Kher bumps into Baby co-star Rana Daggubati; teases about a surprise collab soon

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