While box-office anxieties have much of the mainstream film industry on edge, independent Indian cinema is having a moment. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we were spoilt for choice with the many moments of desi pride and joy. Anasuya Dasgupta became the first Indian actor to win the Un Certain Regard prize for best actress award at the festival. Chidananda S. Naik’s Sunflowers Were the First to Know won the first prize of La Cinef for the best short. Director Maisam Ali’s In Retreat was the first Indian film to be screened at ACID Cannes sidebar programme since its inception in 1993. After being selected as the first Indian film in the competition section in 30 years, the cast of All We Imagine As Light didn’t do anything as basic as walk the red carpet. They danced on it, gifting us with some of the most charming images of feminine joy, abandon and grace. It’s also worth noting that in all her public appearances, director Payal Kapadia sported the red badge that signalled support to France’s Precarious Film Festival Workers Collective, which has been campaigning for better pay. Kani Kusruti wore the badge like a ring on the final night of the festival.
On May 25, after the film garnered rave reviews, All We Imagine As Light made history when it won the Grand Prix Award. The film is a love letter to the city Kapadia has grown up in and to the working women whose ability to find themselves in Mumbai has played such a big role in it earning the tag of being a city of dreams. Kapadia came on stage to accept the award with her three leading ladies, Kani Kusruti, Chhaya Kadam and Divya Prabha. “We worked so much together,” Kapadia had said earlier, when she spoke about making All We Imagine As Light, with Anupama Chopra at the start of the Cannes Film Festival. “We did workshops, we spent a lot of time together. It was like a family,” Kapadia said.
If All We Imagine As Light has traces of Kapadia’s own relationship with Mumbai and draws upon the real life experiences that Kapadia learnt of when she got to know someone who works as a nurse, the film also has elements from Kadam’s life as the daughter of someone who worked in the now-defunct mills of Mumbai.
The sense of camaraderie between the women in the film has been evident in every appearance that Kapadia and her cast have made at Cannes. At the post-awards press conference, where Kadam said that she’d had a “gut feeling” that All We Imagine as Light would win something big, there were serious answers given about making movies and the importance of the Film and Television Institute of India’s (FTII) focus on world cinema. But there were also delighted giggles and blink-and-miss-it moments of comedy — like when Kadam stuck her tongue out, nervous at having made a possible faux pas involving a lollipop — that felt like a refreshing change from the polite performances we tend to get when a film is being promoted by its cast and director. “We really had a strong friendship and connection, and I think that is what the film was about,” Kapadia said. “So when you have that in real life, it shows in the film.”
Speaking to Chopra about working with Kapadia on All We Imagine As Light, Kusruti said, “This is probably one of the first films (in which) I felt like I was collaborating.” Kadam, while remembering how challenging the film’s rehearsal and workshopping process had been, said, “Payal knows how to get just what she wants from you.” On the actor’s face was a smile of admiration and affection and an expression that acknowledged the wonder of having been in a Payal Kapadia film. “Yaani, kamaal hai woh (As in, she’s a miracle),” said the actor, who has had a dream year with films like Laapataa Ladies, Sister Midnight and All We Imagine as Light.
At the press conference in Cannes, which followed the prize ceremony, Kapadia was asked if she thinks “something is happening” in cinema that is making room for women’s stories. “I’d like to believe that’s true,” she said, laughing. “It’s wonderful that there are more films being made by female filmmakers, female technicians… we need many more.”