All We Imagine as Light: TIFF 2024 Review

It starts with a rice cooker. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) opens a box with amazement after her roommate Anu (Divya Prabha) brings her a surprise from their Mumbai doorstep. It turns out that the rice cooker is a gift from Prabha’s husband. He lives in Germany and the random gift from afar offers an odd reminder of her marriage. The handsome red cylinder also stirs the forgotten thrill of being desired.

As Prabha curiously watches Anu turns the rice cooker in her hands, something magical warms All We Imagine as Light. This sophomore feature by Payal Kapadia shimmers with the poetry of life. The film captures the evolving sisterhood of two women of different ages—Prabha is somewhat older, while Anu is younger and naïve—as they confront their relationships with the men who are, or aren’t, in their lives. This understated drama offers a rich and graceful portrait of life in a bustling city where connections are fleeting and bonds hold strong.

Prabha and Anu, rice cooker aside, have an amicable relationship as roommates. Both women have relocated from the Kerala region to Mumbai for employment. They both work in medical care with the former a nurse and the latter a receptionist at the local hospital. Life and love are just a train ride away for them both as Kapadia observes the characters traverse the busy city where lives crash and intersect.

They both have love lives of their own, too, albeit ones that are rice-cooker-free. Prabha enjoys secretive walks after her shift with another man. He woos her with poetry, whispering platonic nothings that inspire something like a relationship. Whispers bring news of Anu’s affairs to Prabha’s ear too. The women at the hospital gossip about their colleague and insinuate that she’s a young woman of loose morals. Complicating matters is that Anu is Hindu and her alleged boyfriend is Muslim. Any relationship between them, public or private, will be controversial.

The whispers, sense of longing, and cruel reminder that her husband controls her from a far leave Prabha in need of release. Kapadia unfolds All We Imagine as Light in a delicate two act structure as Prabha and Anu escape the city. They depart for the seaside town where their friend Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is forced to relocate after losing her home. Escaping the hurried city allows both women the chance to breathe and gain perspective on the loves in their respective lives.

Kapadia’s sophomore film marks a complete change of pace following her extraordinary debut A Night of Knowing Nothing. Her prior film is a shapeshifting documentary about a student undergoing a personal and political awakening amid India’s student revolution. Stylistically, these films couldn’t be more different. After the densely layered mix of archival in A Night of Knowing Nothing, All We Imagine as Light offers a work of poetic realism. Yet the documentary roots of Kapadia’s eye are on full display here as she takes in the sights and sounds of the city while harnessing its hectic energy. Several scenes were shot on the sly with smaller cameras and on location without permits to capture an authentic portrait of Mumbai. Both films, however, feature love letters read in voiceover as Prabha and Anu either share love notes by text messages with their BFs or recite lovers’ poetry.

There’s a fine sense of thematic continuity between Kapadia’s films, too, as Prabha undergoes an awakening of her own. That disruptive rice cooker inspires her to take stock of the present and reconsider how good it feels to be desired. Kusruti’s performance radiates warmth as Kapadia observes the actor riding the train and just vibing to the city’s pull. All We Imagine as Light is a delicate film that slowly and methodically washes over you and warms the heart. It bides its time, just like perfectly cooked rice.