All We Imagine as Light

All We Imagine as Light follows three women navigating life and love in contemporary Mumbai. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is a veteran nurse at the hospital where they all work, and though married, her estranged husband emigrated to Germany. They haven’t spoken in many years. Prabha’s younger workmate, Anu (Divya Prabha), is also her roommate. Anu has been consumed by the thrill of her secret romance with a Muslim man, Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon). And there’s also Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), an older cook in the hospital kitchen. Parvaty faces homelessness due to a legal loophole that means she has no claim on the apartment she has called home for over twenty years. A thoughtful, tender story of women bonding over shared hardships, this award-winning feature by Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, her first dramatic effort, also explores themes of migrant work, gentrification, female subjectivity, and the conflict between Hindi and Muslim communities. If that description sounds heavy or thematically loaded, it contains an unlikely blend of artistic temperaments, ranging from docu-style flourishes to ethereal drama.

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