A LYRICAL MEDITATION ON MIGRATION, DREAMS, AND SISTERHOOD
By Kelvin Rabella
118 Minutes
(France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg, 2024)
Dir. Payal Kapadia
Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light is a film that lingers like an afterthought, a quiet echo of memories and desires unfulfilled. It is a story of migration, displacement, and longing—woven with the intimacy of everyday struggles and the grandeur of unspoken emotions.
At its heart, the film explores the lives of three women—Prabha, Anu, and Parvathy—who navigate the bustling, chaotic terrain of Mumbai, a city that promises dreams yet rarely fulfills them. Through the masterful lens of cinematographer Ranabir Das, Kapadia crafts a world where light itself becomes a metaphor for hope, entrapment, and the search for meaning.
A City of Flickering Lights
Kapadia opens the film with a symphony of voices—snippets of conversations, dialects merging into one another—setting the stage for Mumbai’s ceaseless rhythm. The city is a paradox, both nurturing and indifferent, offering glimpses of possibility while swallowing its inhabitants in an unforgiving grind. It is here that Prabha, a senior nurse, finds herself trapped in a dead-end marriage, much like migrants who once arrived with dreams, only to watch them fade into routine. Anu, younger and full of life, is caught between fleeting moments of passion and the grim inevitability of a future that seems beyond her control. Parvathy, having lived in Mumbai for decades, faces the harsh reality of urban displacement, forced to choose between a battle she knows she will lose and a return to a home that no longer feels like hers.
Their lives unfold in the dim glow of streetlights and hospital fluorescents—boxed into tight frames, surrounded by the hum of a city that never pauses. Life in Mumbai is restless, a series of hurried commutes, whispered hopes, and swallowed disappointments. The film’s cinematography mirrors this existence—dark tones, confined spaces, and a pervasive sense of entrapment. The flickering lamps of the city’s underbelly become symbols of aspirations flickering against the weight of reality.
A Journey Towards Light
Yet, as the narrative progresses, the film breathes. It expands beyond the city’s suffocating embrace into the open landscapes of Ratnagiri. The transition is striking—tight frames give way to wide shots, the oppressive blues of Mumbai replaced by the earthy reds of the village. Nature, with its vastness and stillness, nurtures what the city has eroded. It is here that desire, identity, and agency take root.
Kapadia’s storytelling is deeply poetic, layering moments of quiet reflection with powerful visual metaphors. Blue, the color of the nurses’ uniforms and the interiors of their cramped homes, dominates the first half, reinforcing their sense of stagnation. Red, the color of warmth, is
introduced subtly—a pressure cooker in a kitchen, the clay soil of Ratnagiri—signifying both yearning and the possibility of renewal.
A Performance of Profound Resonance
Kani Kusruti, in the role of Prabha, delivers a performance of immense depth and grace. Her eyes alone carry the weight of solitude, jealousy, longing, and resignation. In one particularly poignant scene, after discovering her roommate is experiencing romance, she holds a pressure cooker sent by her husband, hugging it as if she can draw some affection from it. The moment is both tender and heartbreaking, capturing her yearning for intimacy and connection. Her portrayal is one of the most honest and affecting performances in recent cinema—subtle yet devastating in its emotional clarity.
The film’s exploration of womanhood, resilience, and sisterhood is both tender and piercing. It does not offer grand solutions but rather acknowledges the quiet struggles of those who often go unnoticed. The bond between the three women—sometimes spoken, often silent—becomes the emotional anchor of the story, reminding us that even in the darkest corners, there exists the possibility of connection, of light.
A Reflection on Belonging and the Burden of Dreams
Migrants are always made to believe they cannot question their destination. If they fail to make it, the fault is theirs.
This thought lingers as the film gently fades, leaving us with the realization that for many, the pursuit of dreams often comes at the cost of losing the hearth that once fueled them. Kapadia’s film does not just tell a story; it understands. It empathizes with those who don’t fit in, with those who have lost the rhythm of their own existence in the noise of survival.
All We Imagine as Light is not just a film; it is an experience—one that moves through the cracks of our consciousness, finding a place to settle, much like the people it portrays. It is a love letter to the lost, a whisper to those still searching, and a quiet affirmation that even in a world of flickering lamps, fireflies still exist.
Banner image courtesy of Film at Lincoln Centre.