Discussing dichotomy in Mumbai and All We Imagine As Light at SCREEN Film Club screening at NCPA

Indian Express

17-06-2025

Payal Kapadia's Grand Prix winner All We Imagine As Light succinctly captures the dichotomy that populates Mumbai. That dichotomy also cropped up in the post-screening discussion with the audience at the National Centre of Performing Arts where SCREEN Film Club held a screening of the film on Monday evening.
The debate primarily revolved around the use of linearity and light — or lack of these thereof — employed in the film. 'The way light is used in this film, every frame has its own meter. Light in the title isn't just physical, it's also metaphorical — the darkness we're living in and the light we're all seeking,' said Shubhra Gupta, The Indian Express film critic, while hosting the discussion. 'The cinematography by Payal's partner Ranabir Das is also a character in the film,' she added.
However, an audience member disagreed with the stance and said, 'I felt the cinematography was so unnecessarily dark. I've worked a lot in slums, so I can say there's not so much darkness even inside slums. This is the Mumbai of today,' she said. Other audience members responded to this observation through their reading of the use of the titular 'light' in All We Imagine As Light.
'I think the darkness is very deliberate. These two nurses commute for two hours to work. The only time they live is at night. One of them says that this city comes to life at night. It's so liberating to see the life through them. Otherwise we just see it like we or people like us know it,' pointed out another lady.
Another grouse that the lady had with All We Imagine As Light was the lack of linearity. She said, 'The entire film was very disjointed. It wasn't storytelling at its best, I'm sorry to say. Why do the two nurses trail Parvati? Where does the husband come up on the shore?' 'The script doesn't need to follow a linear structure. It's following the emotional health and movement of the protagonist towards acceptance,' countered a fellow audience member.
Shubhra also underlined the context by explaining the background of the filmmaker which reflects in the film. 'Payal comes from a documentary background. So her screenplay is very observational. We can't see the cuts and edits like we can do in other feature films. There's just a flow which is very lifelike,' she argued.
From her discussion with Payal over the last year, Shubhra lauded the crystal-clear approach that the filmmaker has towards her craft. 'She knows exactly what she wants. Every frame is brass tagged. When you wonder if the husband is real or surreal, she wants it to be exactly like that,' said Shubhra.
Also Read — All We Imagine As Light movie review: Payal Kapadia's lyrical ode to working-class Mumbai and female friendship
'If you have a reaction, you'll feel like 'Ye kya hai.' But if you have a response, you'll know what this film is trying to do. We're so distracted now that we can't spend even a minute without looking at our phones,' said Shubhra, adding, 'Instead of saying my way or highway, we learn about different POVs. This film takes us back to what cinema was always supposed to be: to look at life through someone else's eyes.'