Set in the hectic city of Mumbai, All We Imagine as Light is a story of sisterhood. Head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) lives with younger, recently hired nurse Anu (Divya Prabha). Prabha was forced by her family to marry, and her husband has left her behind and moved away to Germany. She is painfully reminded of this fact when a rice cooker arrives from there in the mail unexpectedly without a return address. Meanwhile, Anu is sneaking around with her boyfriend, Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon) who she has to keep secret from her family (and everyone else) because they are trying to arrange a marriage for her, too, and Shiaz is Muslim, therefore unacceptable. And while Anu and Prahna are dealing with their issues, Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) the cook at the hospital where they both work is being evicted from her apartment and has nowhere to go.
Each of these working class women has come to the city from the country because of the freedoms there that they would not have back home. But they are also all alone in the city and finding connections and compassionate friends are rare. They are also constantly dealing with the entrenched patriarchy of Indian society both at work and everywhere else.
The style of the film is very much a slice of life telling. The women go about their day-to-day lives and you learn bits about them. For the most part there is no big drama. Even when you learn about the boyfriend, it isn’t huge. But it works. The women are there for one another as they find their footing.
And when they head to the country to help Parvaty move home to her country house, it is beautiful, both in terms of the landscape and the relationships. It is a lovely meditation on women and the kinds of friendships we can develop with one another. And it is definitely one of the best films of the year. Writer/director Payal Kapadia deservedly won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (a first for an Indian film) and I hope she continues to garner awards season love with this beautiful film.
In limited release. Put it in your queue. Subtitled ( in Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi)