Writers and Director: Payal Kapadia
Blending documentary footage with filmed performances, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light received a Special Presentation at the BFI London Film Festival 2024. A sweet story of three nurses, each from a different generation of Mumbai women pursuing their hearts in the city, Kapadia’s film explores the impact of arranged marriage and the vibrance of urban living with the pain and hope of young love, as well as the need to find a more settled home.
Nurses Prabhu, Anu and Parvaty work at the same hospital while the younger women also share a flat with their pregnant cat. Caught up in the daily routine, each woman has her own individual dream – Anu to escape her parents’ wishes and marry the man she really loves, Parvaty to find a quiet home back in her village and Prabhu to make sense of her estranged husband who moved to Germany soon after they married.
Kapadia’s film is a light examination of these intertwined lives that in tone and its sense of innocence is tonally reminiscent of the 1960s British comedies like Doctor in House that give each character a personal and professional storyline. Kapadia does the same, each nurse has a warmth, an essential goodness that shines through the staging of the film and, although it never really concentrates on their work particularly, the idea of them all navigating jobs and life is lovely.
All We Imagine as Light evolves into a more philosophical film as the nurses remove to the country for their second Act, enjoying Parvaty’s village life and finding a peace and freedom that doesn’t seen available to them in Mumbai, despite their initial reluctance to stay. This is primarily where the story takes on its more romantic properties as Anu in particular makes a significant loving commitment to her secret boyfriend in a rural idyll scene. The contrasts between Kapadia’s documentary-like impression of the crowded city and the pastoral joys of the country is striking, giving the characters a conclusion if not an ending.
Actors Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam are archetypes perhaps instead of characters – the young lover, the hardened worker and the older woman seeking home which means All We Imagine as Light has little to say beyond letting these women follow their course. But it is a charming and engaging female-centric story and draws comfort from the close inter-generational friendships it depicts.
All We Imagine as Light is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2024.
