IN winning the Grand Prix for her debut feature film, All We Imagine As Light (AWIAL), at Cannes Film Festival 2024, Payal Kapadia didn't just post a milestone in the history of Indian cinema but elegantly furthered an ongoing debate to the next level. It had taken 30 years (since Shaji N Karun's Swaham in 1994) for an Indian film to find a place in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. "Please don't wait 30 years to have another Indian film," she said in her award acceptance speech.
Despite a robust independent cinema, spearheaded by a bunch of talented young filmmakers, we have been persistently indulging in self-flagellation about how Indian cinema is not up to the gold standard of the West, never questioning their gaze on us and the defined vision within which our films get circumscribed. AWIAL, with its quiet and profound exploration of female friendship, uncovers a cinematic universe beyond the cliched expectations of song-n-dance Bollywood or a testosterone-driven RRR. What's more, Kapadia generously used her personal moment of glory to shine a light on all her co-warriors of indie cinema and underscored how much she valued her team, the cast and crew on every platform she spoke from. A graceful show of self-esteem, dignity, and solidarity.
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