Casting Light

With her Cannes Grand Prix winner film, All We Imagine As Light, Payal Kapadia tells a story that makes no apologies.

- JISHNU BANDYOPADHYAY

There is something eminently real about Payal Kapadia’s 2024 drama. Packaged with humility and unapologetic relatability for anyone who has tasted the immigrant life in Mumbai, All We Imagine As Light plays effortlessly with themes so grave, as one does through life. Documentarystyle anecdotes blend seamlessly with the stories of three women who have been dealt some tough cards, only to realise what matters most to them. With the film’s recent release in India, Kapadia talks to Bazaar India about everything it took to shine the spotlight on untold narratives.

Harper’s Bazaar: You’ve done a plethora of interviews at this point. What is one question you’re tired of hearing?

Payal Kapadia: I think I am tired of being asked what the origin of the story is. I know it’s important, but it’s out there. I think I should be asked something else.

HB: There is this line in the film that stood out to me. It goes something like: I have lived 23 years in Bombay, but I’m still afraid to call it home. What is your experience of living out of your home?

PK: I am from Mumbai, but I have always studied in different states in India. I went to school in Andhra Pradesh, then I attended FTII in Pune. I have always been in and out of the city. When you are away from home, your friends become your family. And I benefited a lot from this experience—making friends on who I can really rely. That is also the truth of making a film. A unit comprises of people who you have to trust and believe in.

Those relationships also carry on to later stages of life. Your support system eventually becomes people who were once strangers, rather than your actual family.