Hyde Park Pick: Cactus Pears
A quiet exploration of grief, identity and queer love.
Wendy Cook
Set in rural Maharashtra, Cactus Pears follows Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a Mumbai based call-centre worker who returns to his ancestral village to observe the ten-day mourning ritual following his father’s death.
While navigating the pressures of family expectations and marriage, he reconnects with Balya (Suraaj Suman), a childhood friend who is facing similar struggles.
Over the course of the mourning period, their bond deepens into a tender and intimate relationship.
The story of Cactus Pears is gentle and straightforward. However, where the initial premise may, rightly so, bring to mind other stories about the challenges of living authentically as one self, especially in relation to sexuality, the utter joy of Cactus Pears is the surfeit of love writer/director Rohan Kanawade has woven into the script for his feature debut. Whilst expressed with reserve and subtly, Cactus Pears is a beautifully conceived work which manages to convey with care the interconnected nature of loving, being loved and loving oneself.
Part of the strength of the film also sits with the execution of the story, where Kanawade brings authenticity to the characters through the regular insertion of beautifully observed moments throughout.
Two old friends, more than friends, sitting under a tree. A hand running through the curls of our protagonist’s hair.
Steam rising from a basin.
A nail, drawing a line in the flesh of a ripe fruit. Prying it open ready to be eaten.
And then there is the music, or the absence of music. A quiet and calm soundscape built up of the many different sounds of the landscape. In the gentle rhythm of the cicadas or the bleating goats, we get a sense of the world in which Anand grew up and now returns to. This helps create a point of contrast to the intensity of Mumbai but also serves to create a quietness in the space where most of the story unfolds, which gives room for both our characters and for us to feel what we need to feel.
Cactus Pears is showing at HPPH from Fri 19 Jun. You can find times & tickets here.
