All We Imagine as Light
In the bustling city of Mumbai, head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti, "Girls Will Be Girls") wonders why she hasn't heard from her husband, who left to work in Germany after their arranged marriage, in over a year. Her younger roommate, Anu (Divya Prabha), also a nurse, is courting gossip by seeing a Muslim on the sly. Their coworker, hospital cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam, "Laapataa Ladies"), is facing eviction from her apartment of 22 years because she doesn't have papers proving she lives there. These three will form a fast bond in "All We Imagine as Light."
Laura's Review: A-
With her first feature, writer/director Payal Kapadia ("A Night of Knowing Nothing") returns to the city of her birth, a bustling melting pot of millions where many come seeking work but where lone individuals can all but disappear. Her three main characters exemplify individuality, each very different in their desires and demeanor while they navigate the city in a sea of people, monsoon season further obscuring the landscape.
Kapadia introduces her backdrop with multiple voices speaking in different languages describing their experiences in Mumbai before focusing on Prabha tending to an elderly woman. In another part of the hospital, Anu mans a counter where she informs a woman the government will provide a bucket and 1,000 rupees to any man who agrees to a vasectomy. The widowed Parvati is being threatened by real estate developers and Prabha is trying to help.
Prabha, who keeps her feelings to herself, keeps an eye on others, including Anu, who's been arriving home later and later, and their pregnant cat. As she cooks dinner, Anu announces the arrival of a package and it is addressed to Prabha. She opens it to reveal a fancy rice cooker, its 'Made in Germany' tag suggesting a gift from her husband. Urged to call the man she hasn't heard from in so long, Prabha eventually tries, but gets no answer. Leaving the hospital another evening after hearing whispering about Anu, she's approached by Dr. Manoj (Azees Nedumangad), ostensibly to learn how to say something in Hindi. Before parting he hands Prabha a notebook containing a poem he says he's entering in a contest. Reading it at home later that evening, it is clearly meant for her and when Anu brings their cat in as the kindly doctor had agreed to check it, Prabha accuses her of flirting with the man, but we've seen Anu with her lover, Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon), and Prabha is clearly misinterpreting Anu's open nature. Everything comes to a head when Manoj tells Prabha his contract is ending, wondering if she will give him reason to stay, just as Parvaty gives up her fight to return to her coastal village, the latter signaled with the jaw-dropping image of the woman curled within the steel girders of what used to be her apartment.
Cinematographer Ranabir Das ("A Night of Knowing Nothing") and editor Clément Pinteaux juxtapose intimate character portraits with cityscapes, shopping centers, outdoor restaurants, public festivals and crowded public transport, emphasizing Kapadia's theme. Das occasionally lets his camera float out a window, suggesting reverie or escape. Music by Dhritiman Das Topshe shifts from light hearted piano to gentle guitar in the film's latter section in the coastal district of Ratnagiri, which offers an entirely different landscape and serenity. Prabha and Anu have accompanied Parvaty to help with her move and the older woman who had resisted it appears to revel in nature, wading into the sea. Shiaz has also followed, meeting clandestinely with Anu, the couple exploring an ancient cave and, in a scene racy for Indian film, making love outdoors. Prabha will save the life of a man washed up on the beach (Anand Sami) who will be mistaken for her husband and who she will converse with as if he is, making a decision. Kapadia leaves us with three women contentedly sitting at a beachside shack, all having arrived at a different place than she was headed. Kusruti, Prabha and Kadam have invested us in their future.
The film community was shocked when the Cannes Grand Prix winner wasn't chosen as India's submission for the 2025 International Oscar (that would be the more conventional but entertaining "Laapataa Ladies"), but we've been introduced to an instinctive new talent. "All We Imagine As Light" (the title comes from Prabha's 'husband' describing working so many hours in a dark factory that he is blinded when he finally goes outside) is both melancholy and magical.
Robin's Review: B+
Sophomore feature director Payal Kapadia brings us a story that could have taken place in any large city in the world. This is a pretty mean feat when you figure that Mumbai is one of the most densely populated cities on earth. Somehow, in the jam and hubbub of Mumbai, an intimate pair of stories takes place.
Prahba’s best friend Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is being evicted from her apartment because she has no documentation. The nurse tries to help but the facts are her friend must leave the city for whence she came. Anu, deeply in love, must keep that love, with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon), a secret from her friends and family – especially her Hindi family.
For Prahba, things get mysterious when she receives a parcel sent from Germany – a fancy rice cooker. She assumes it is from her estranged husband and memories flood back in for her. Meanwhile she helps Parvaty pack up and move back home. She and Anu accompany their friend on the trip back to the countryside. (This represents a huge contrast as we go from the packed-together humans in Mumbai to the relatively sparsely populated coastal town.)
This very femme-centered film is a decent character study of life in India from the viewpoint of the women. There are men in the cast, like Shiaz and a young doctor who has a crush on Prabha, but they are incidental to the story. There is a fantasy element involved when, at Parvaty’s town, a drowning man is dragged ashore and the nurse renders CPR and saves the man.
There is a cosmopolitan feel to the story amidst the bustle of the big city but also one of intimacy, needed to cope with the crush of people always around you. I am the kind of person that needs his space and I think that would be in short supply in Mumbai.
Some may complain that this is not an “Indian” film but an international one. That may be true but I felt immersed in these women’s lives and that feels Indian.
Sideshow Janus releases "All We Imagine as Light" in NY and LA on 11/15/24.
