Cineflections:56 – All We Imagine As Light – 2024, Malayam, Marathi

Cineflections-56

All We Imagine As Light – 2024, Malayam, Marathi

-Manjula Jonnalagadda

          “One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, and compassion.” ― Simone de Beauvoir

          All We Imagine As Light is a film written and directed by Payal Kapadiya. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 in the competition section. It won the Grand Prix (second highest award) at the festival. This is the second Indian film to win at Cannes. Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar won the Grand Prix in 1946. Grand Prix was the top prize at that time. It was nominated for the Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival and won the RTVE – Another Look award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. This film is releasing in the US on November 15th and in India on November 22nd. I got to watch this film at the South Asian International Film Festival at San Francisco.

          Payal Kapadiya studied Film Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. She made shorts before making a full length documentary titled A Night of Knowing Nothing. That documentary won the Best Documentary Award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. All We Imagine As Light is her first feature length narrative film.

          The film opens with a voice over of immigrants to Mumbai speaking in different languages about their experiences in the city. Prabha works as a head nurse at a hospital. Her roommate Anu also works in the same hospital as a nurse. Both of them are from Kerala, but live and work in Mumbai. Parvathi is a cook in the hospital cafeteria, she is from a village in Maharashtra.

          Prabha is a consummate professional and mostly keeps to herself except for Parvathi. Her husband lives in Germany, but he is not in touch with her any more. Parvathi is being evicted from her house as they are building a modern apartment complex. She doesn’t have papers to prove that she owns the place that she lives in. Anu is not married, but has a boyfriend called Shiaz. Anu is always looking for places to meet Shiaz privately in a crowded city.  

          This is the story of modern Indian women. India where women live far from family by themselves to make their living. All three are independent women who are mostly responsible for their own life. They belong to the middle class and are not particularly wealthy. Prabha and Anu are financially in a better condition than Parvathi who works as a cook and is not well educated. These three women forge a bond and friendship even though they cannot be more different from each other.

          Prabha is an introvert, a bit uptight. She doesn’t have many interests outside her work. She had an arranged marriage with a man living in Germany, but he leaves before they can bond. She doesn’t know if she will ever reunite with her husband. A doctor who works at the same hospital called Manoj likes her, but Prabha is not interested in that relationship.

          Anu is a happy go lucky woman and is the youngest of the three. She doesn’t want to get married. Her parents are looking for a prospective groom. Anu is a bit commitment phobic. She has a boyfriend whom she likes, but she is not sure if she wants to be married to him. Her being a Hindu and her boyfriend being a Muslim may have something to do with it. 

          Parvathi is older than Anu and Prabha. She is widowed and has a grown up son who is married. She lives by herself, in an apartment that her husband got as a settlement during the Mumbai cotton mill strike. Her husband never left the paperwork to prove that the apartment is owned. As a result she is getting evicted from her own house. 

          This is a lovely film about female friendships which is rare in the Indian film industry. Prabha, Anu, and Parvathi are real people with real problems. They are trying to find their way in a city that is crowded yet lonely, sometimes impersonal yet very accommodating.

          The film is lyrical in quality, beautifully captures the atmosphere, the spirit, and crowds of Mumbai. The city is a character in itself. Cinematography by Ranabir Das is excellent, as is background score by Topshe.

          Performances are top notch. Kani Kasurthi as Prabha, Divya Prabha as Anu, and Chaya Kadam as Parvathi are all very good!

          Watch this film as it is an experience for everyone. Its win at Cannes is very well deserved! Hope Payal Kapadiya makes more gems!

*****