Interview: With Longing & Light, Payal Kapadia Crafts The World Of Complex Women

When I first moved to Mumbai as a 17-year-old small-town girl, all I wanted was to desperately fit in - with my college mates, amongst my hostel crowd and to the major effect I wanted to fit in my dream city. It took me over a month to find my voice in the maximum city. It wasn't seamless for a homeward to turn into a city girl navigating the cacophony of rush hour, local trains, auto haggling, its sudden downpours and carefree culture but I slipped in easily. This city by the sea took me in so quickly, nurturing and caring that it never quite left my heart even when I moved to the hills. 

Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light, crafted with such wondrous and compassionate care brings Mumbai in all its glory. Its rush, heat, humidity, humdrum of daily life and the peak gloomy monsoon — everything is spellbinding. In its opening montage, we hear voices of nameless, faceless citizens (mostly migrants) revealing how they found a space in this city; a sea of different Indian languages co-existing at once. It almost felt like a love letter I would have written to Mumbai in another lifetime.  

"Over the five years it took to write the film, my understanding of the city and its influence on relationships evolved. I think I’m always asking the same questions about love and its politics, and each film is an attempt to find different answers," Kapadia tells me over a Zoom call.

All We Imagine As Light follows Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), two Malayali nurses living together in Mumbai. Prabha is straitlaced and yearns for her husband who migrated to Germany soon after their marriage. Anu is lively, and outgoing, and is having a secret affair with a Muslim man named Shiaz. Both of them find a gateway when they travel to Parvathy’s (Chhaya Kadam) coastal village, where they all find redemption—or something that looks like it, even if momentary—away from the chaos of Mumbai life.

Kapadia won the prestigious Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, creating history as the first person from India to clinch the festival’s second-highest honour. Before that, in 2017, her film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film selected to compete at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. 

Afternoon Clouds is a 16-minute short film exploring the themes of love, longing and loneliness. A 60-year-old windw and Malti, her Nepali help, converse sparingly about the mundane when the afternoon is interrupted by an unexpected visitor from the past. When the house-help's lover is introduced - hesitation engulfs Malti. She is tempted to follow me to the sea and yet stops at her feet. The film’s delicate portrayal of loneliness and companionship showcased Kapadia’s talent for handling complex themes with subtlety. 

Crafting women who feel

Both All We Imagine As Light and Afternoon Clouds stand out for their humanely relatable female characters, whose desires are often tempered by hesitation. Whether it’s Prabha torn between waiting for her estranged husband and feelings for Dr Manoj, or Malti in Afternoon Clouds, tentatively exploring romance, these women are fascinating reflecting the complexity of real life.

Kapadia explains while both films are about longing and desire, the characters are very different and yet unique in their own way. She says, "Prabha holds onto her marriage because, for her, it legitimises her place in society, even though it’s far from fulfilling. Our culture often validates certain relationships over others, but where does love fit in that equation?"

Her female characters are deeply relatable, not just for their desires but also for their imperfections. In one of the scenes, there’s a generational conflict between Anu and Prabha, which comes to the fore when Prabha slut-shames Anu. "Envy, jealousy, admiration—these emotions are universal. They stem from wanting something you can’t have or can’t bring yourself to do," she says, referencing Prabha’s outburst in All We Imagine as Light.

Friendships across generations

Her exploration of female friendship, especially across age gaps, is a recurring theme. "I’ve been enriched by friendships with women of different ages," she says. "But our culture often pits women against each other due to internalised patriarchy."

Through her films, she seeks to question these ingrained reactions and explore how women can become each other’s strongest allies.

"At the end of the day, many of us are still figuring out how to be better feminists—myself included."

Cinema as responsibility

Growing up, Kapadia admits, her aspirations were anything but fixed. "I wanted to paint. I wanted to do architecture," she recalls with a laugh. But it was during her school years, through a film club that screened works of Satyajit Ray and world cinema, that her fascination with storytelling began.

For her, storytelling is inseparable from the society in which it exists. "We don’t live in a vacuum," she states emphatically. "Cinema, like any art form, has a responsibility to respond to the world. For me, my films reflect the questions I have about society and the relationships we accept or reject."

This sense of responsibility is evident in her work, whether exploring interfaith relationships or portraying women navigating societal restraints.  “It’s my way of understanding and questioning our society,” she adds. 

Hope and light

The title All We Imagine as Light stems from her perception of hope, captured in the film’s luminous closing scene - the three women sitting in a beach shack, all filled with cautious optimism while warm fairy lights flicker in the background. “Hope is about bridging differences, about finding connection despite our divides. It’s about women who begin by misunderstanding one another but eventually learn to coexist and support each other. If we can do that, there’s progress. And that’s what keeps me going,” she says. 

Advice for aspiring women filmmakers

For young women eager to tell stories, her advice is simple: “Start small, but start.” From mobile filmmaking to creating narratives on Instagram, the tools to practice are accessible. “It’s like sketching before painting. The more you do, the better you’ll get.”

She also emphasises learning—whether through academic courses, assisting established filmmakers, or joining creative labs. “Engage with the world cinematically and seek feedback. Filmmaking can be isolating, but community helps you grow. The only way to do it is to keep doing.”

All We Imagine As Light is playing in select theatres across India.