A Hyper-Realistic and Universal Story of The Struggle for Individualism in Modern India
I had seen “All We Imagine as Light” showing up more and more frequently on year end Best of lists, so when I saw it was coming to town at our little local art theater here in OKC, had to check it out for sure.
And it was worth the hype for sure. Since it’s so hyper-realistic, it occasionally gets a little sleepy and slow, as those types of movies get (since life, you know, doesn’t just go 100 all the time), but writer/director Payal Kapadia’s quest to capture contemporary life in Mumbai with verisimilitude and honesty is accomplished with gusto.
Kapadia grew up in Mumbai, and made “All We Imagine” to show how hard it is for a woman to find a sense of self, agency, and individualism in the city. And while the movie is specific to Mumbai of course, her characters, the reserved and hurt Prahba and lively and independent Anu, find themselves railing against the types of social tides that restrict anyone around the world in any city, issues like religious expectations, social norms, and urbanization. They see a friend whose home is taken from her to clear way for skyscraper; Anu is in love with a Muslim man, virtually forbidden in her culture; and the lonely yet devoted Prabha is in an arranged marriage with an abroad and absent husband.
Kapadia does an amazing job making these struggles specific to her characters, but real enough that any of us can sympathize, and any of us can imagine or relate a time in our own lives when we hadn’t seemed to have our agency to these two fascinating Indian women.