Official US trailer for romantic indie drama “Cactus Pears” from India
by Alex Billington
October 19, 2025
Source: YouTube
“A special friend in Mumbai? » “The special friend never lasts.” Strand Releasing has released an official US trailer for an independent film titled Cactus Pearsa romantic drama about a lost young man who hooks up with another man. This film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and then screened at other festivals, including New Directors/New Films, in San Francisco, Taipei and Melbourne. Anand, a city dweller in his thirties forced to spend ten days mourning his father in the countryside of western India, becomes tenderly involved with a local farmer who is struggling to remain single. When the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress. Described as “a poignant approach to unspoken grief.” The movie stars Bhushan Manoj like Anand, Surah SumanAnd Jayshree Jagtap. After awarding it the prize, the Sundance jury said: “This is the great modern love story. To say it’s an honor to recognize this tender film is an understatement. We cried, we laughed, and we wished to be loved the same way. It’s exactly what the world needs right now.” Another tender slice of cinema in 2025.
Here is the official trailer (+ poster) of Rohan Kanawade’s film Cactus Pearsdirectly from YouTube:
An Indian family marks the loss of their patriarch with a 10-day period of mourning that strands Anand (Bhushaan Manoj) in the countryside he long ago deserted for Mumbai. Common phases of grief (looking at old photos, sharing beloved memories) coexist with local rituals, while Anand’s hidden desires materialize in a rekindled friendship with his childhood companion Balya. Through these experiences, these sensual discoveries and the always measured performance of Bhushaan Manoj, [this] emerges as an exquisite character piece perfected by its heartbreaking finale. Cactus Pears is written and directed by the new Indian filmmaker Kold |making his directorial debut after a few other short films before that. Produced by Naren Chandavarkar, Neeraj Churi, Mohamed Khaki, Sidharth Meer, Kaushik Ray, Hareesh Reddypalli, Rohan Kanawade. This film originally premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize. Strand Releasing will debut with Kanawade Cactus Pears film in select U.S. theaters starting on November 21, 2025 this fall. For more information, visit their official website.
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