ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT
(director/writer: Payal Kapadia; cinematographer: Ranabir Das; editor: Clement Pinteaux; music: Dhrritiman Das, Tooshe; cast: Kani Kusruti (Prabha), Divya Prabha (Anu), Chhaya Kadam (Parvatty), Hridhu Haroon (Shiaz), Aziz Nedumangad (Dr. Manoi); Runtime: 118; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Julien Graff/Thomas Hakim; Janus Films; 2024-France/India/ Netherlands/Luxembourg/Italy/Switzerland/USA/Belgium-in Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, with English subtitles)
“Explores the lives of three working-class hospital workers from Mumbai.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
It’s well-written and directed by Payal Kapadia (“A Night of Knowing Nothing”). The drama explores the lives of three working-class city hospital workers from Mumbai: Prabha (Kani Kusruti), Anu (Divya Prabha) and Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam). Each has come from a rural area to advance their careers.
The sober-minded Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is a forty-something head nurse in a city hospital. She has an arranged marriage to a husband who long ago left her to live in Germany. She’s being wooed by a doctor who wants to marry her even if her marital situation is messy.
The flighty Anu is the most recent roommate. She’s the cause of gossip because she has a secret Muslim boyfriend, Shiaz (Hridu Haroon). The other roommate is the older Parvaty, a widow who is being threatened with eviction because a property developer has bought her apartment building and her late husband did not leave her the documentation that would prove her resident’s right to remain.
In the mail, without any acknowledgement from the sender, Prabha is surprised to receive a new rice cooker that was made in Germany.
To escape from the tensions in Mumbai, Prabha and Anu accompany Parvaty to her remote home village on the coast when she quits her job as a cook at the hospital.
Prabha receives a wake-up call when away from the tension of the city and feels good for the first time in a long time on how she’ll handle her hubby issue. It’s as if she woke up from a bad dream and can now live again.
In a realistic way, the drama shows how these women struggle to overcome the customs and bureaucracy they face in Mumbai, and strive to lead a better life.
It played at the Cannes Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 12/6/2024 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com