There are solely a handful of Indian movies that defy the standard description and invite the audiences right into a world that may solely be understood by means of expertise fairly than clarification. One such movie is Payal Kapadia’s ‘ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT’. Set towards the bustling but remoted backdrop of Mumbai, this cinematic triumph transcends narrative boundaries to create one thing profound and deeply private. Via a surprising mixture of magical realism and grounded storytelling, it delves into themes of affection, loss, identification, and self-discovery. Other than the storytelling, the cinematography by Ranabir Das, elevates the movie to an ethereal realm, capturing the stark contrasts of Mumbai’s city panorama with poetic finesse. The digital camera lingers on the town’s chaos and quiet, utilizing gentle and shadow to reflect the internal worlds of its characters.
The inventive brilliance has not gone unnoticed, as ‘ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT‘ has garnered widespread acclaim and a plethora of prestigious accolades on the worldwide pageant circuit. For Payal and Ranabir, this roaring success is one thing that they by no means imagined, as their focus was solely on telling an genuine and deeply private story. After profitable the Grand Prix accolade at this yr’s Cannes, the movie has solidified its place as a landmark in up to date Indian cinema. It’s so sensible to see an Indian filmmaker garnering a lot success on the international degree, and turning into the first-ever feminine filmmaker from India to obtain a Greatest Director nod on the Golden Globes. Just lately, I had the fortune of speaking to Payal Kapadia, and DOP Ranabir Das, about their movie and the way they created such an impressive world the place moments of magical realism are dropped at life by surreal imagery.
Payal Kapadia on the Cannes Movie Pageant (Picture Credit score: Getty Photos)
Right here’s the FULL INTERVIEW:
Aayush Sharma: Congratulations on the unimaginable win for ‘All We Think about As Mild’. The previous few days will need to have been a whirlwind of feelings, from press engagements to screenings, culminating on this well-deserved triumph. How does it really feel to see all of the exhausting work and fervour behind this movie being celebrated on such a grand stage? Has the magnitude of this achievement really sunk in but?
Payal Kapadia: It’s been actually greater than we ever imagined for the movie. After we have been in Cannes, it already felt so massive. Each time one thing else occurs, we really feel like we wish to pinch ourselves. We labored on the movie for a very long time—particularly the 2 of us (Payal and Ranabir Das), since we write collectively as properly. It’s been a venture we’ve labored on, on and off, for nearly six or seven years, and intensely over the previous 4 years. Generally, you’re feeling prefer it’s over, and that itself feels so bizarre.
Aayush Sharma: The town of Mumbai performs such a central position in your movie. How did you method portraying Mumbai not simply as a setting however as a personality in itself, with its heartbeat and tales?
Payal Kapadia: I believe it’s as a result of, you already know while you make a movie—or at the very least once I make a movie—it’s sort of like a response to your environment. What forces itself into the movie is one thing that issues you or one thing you see on a regular basis, and also you get bothered by it. The contradictions of Mumbai, I believe, are very a lot a part of our each day life. For the previous 5 years, now we have been residing right here collectively. On one facet, you see everyone transferring right here—particularly within the movie trade—as a result of all our pals from FTII additionally moved to Mumbai. In some senses, it’s sort of liberating as a result of you have got your personal sort of freedom right here to do issues. Nevertheless it’s additionally a metropolis that may be very merciless. It’s a really costly metropolis, not very comfy to navigate or journey in every single day, contemplating the period of time it takes. There’s additionally fixed gentrification happening. It’s a metropolis that’s at all times in a state of change as a result of the individuals who include a number of issue may also be very simply made to go away. We particularly noticed that throughout the COVID time. It’s additionally a metropolis that’s geographically altering as a result of it’s like an island metropolis that turned hooked up to the peninsula. And now, land reclamation can be happening. So even bodily, the town is like an amoeba. I used to be very excited by all these items concerning the metropolis, and a few of it makes us very indignant additionally.
Ranabir Das: Basically, Mumbai is a metropolis the place so many movies are shot. However in only a few movies will we truly see the town. We simply wished to doc some senses of now—a time now—that can stay someplace.
Payal Kapadia: As a result of I believe that Mohammad Ali Highway, that space, may even at some point get gentrified and be shot. And I really feel like we wished to additionally keep in mind completely different, completely different locations.
Aayush Sharma: The shift from the bustling city panorama of Mumbai to the serene coastal village marks a big tonal change. How did you conceptualize this transition, and what does it signify within the bigger context of the story?
Ranabir Das: Properly, on some ranges, it’s very fundamental. Like, we simply wished a shift, a change in season. Yeah. A bit little bit of time has passed by between the earlier occasions and what’s to comply with. In that sense, the most important shift, I believe, is that the primary half could be very cloudy, and the second half could be very shiny solar. The colour palette additionally shifts within the course of. However we wished the second half to have a barely completely different feeling of time as properly. We wished it to be only one lengthy day, this whole second half. So we wished to really feel the time just a little bit extra. We wished to be just a little nearer to the characters. Within the metropolis, we at all times included the town just a little bit within the background or in some airplane. There’s at all times some presence of the town creeping in. However over right here, we wished to be bodily nearer to the characters and be with them extra.
Payal Kapadia: The kind of this village, however our intention at the very least was to someplace keep away from taking a look at that an excessive amount of, okay, and being with the character. Yeah, like that’s why most—at the very least what we tried, I don’t understand how a lot of it got here by means of—however a number of time, Riku would bleach out a number of the background when it was a really broad shot, for instance, as a result of the daylight wouldn’t sort of, you already know, simply stick with that cliche of a reasonably place. One thing that, you already know, that warmth—I don’t know if you’re from Delhi, however I assume in Delhi additionally, in the summertime, that very prime solar is like, it’s not very nice. In order that feeling, we wished to sort of get. I believe, yeah, as a result of Mumbai seems to be so completely different, I believe that distinction has been a lot.

Kani Kusruti as Prabha and Divya Prabha as Any in ‘All We Think about As Mild’ (Picture Credit score: Spirit Media)
Aayush Sharma: The movie opens with a documentary-style montage of road scenes and migrant voices. How did your background in documentary filmmaking form this method, and what was your intent behind mixing this model with fiction?
Payal Kapadia: You realize, like, I believe each of us are very process-driven filmmakers. So a number of time, we find yourself doing a number of analysis and, you already know, not even simply analysis—once we go for location scouting, you sit, you chat with individuals, you have got chai, you eat, or we simply meet individuals for the sake of, you already know, understanding issues higher. Whereas doing that, we have been getting a number of completely different tales from individuals—individuals have been telling us, and our pals have been additionally telling us. So we wished to maintain the essence of these conversations by some means within the movie, although we didn’t understand how. I believe it was the identical with our earlier movie too—like, a number of the stuff that’s there comes out later due to interactions with actuality. You possibly can think about some issues, you write sure issues, you have got a script, and every part, after which actuality comes and says, ‘Hi there,’ which is good. I actually get pleasure from that, and I believe we actually get pleasure from that. So we wished to maintain a sense of these conversations and random interactions. We additionally felt like by some means it gave a sort of symphony of the town, with all of the individuals right here. It’s a metropolis made up of individuals from completely different components of the state, and completely different components of the nation, and also you hear so many languages in Mumbai. It’s a really numerous house. So we wished to have a jhalak of that within the movie.
Ranabir Das: Additionally, we felt that it was one thing that was treating it like there are such a lot of tales floating round, and we’re coming into one in every of them. Only one factor we’re delving into deeper, after which that fiction additionally turns into just a little bit extra actual after that.
Aayush Sharma: The movie is devoted to your grandmother and your buddy who’s a nurse. How did their lives and experiences encourage the story of All We Think about as Mild, and what private connections formed your method to telling this story?
Payal Kapadia: For me, my grandmother’s story has been a nagging string for all my movies to date. Each movie has this copy in it. All my quick movies have it. Principally, when she was in her 90s, she began shedding her reminiscence. So, I instructed her, simply to sort of preserve the thoughts transferring, ‘Why don’t you write a diary?’ So, she began writing the diary. And by some means, within the diary, this husband of hers used to maintain showing. Now, she was 97 or 96 or one thing like this. Her husband died when she was 50. So, all these years, she was single. However right now, it was he who was popping out, coming in her goals and coming nearly like an individual, like a ghost, and was annoying her. So, she was very irritated. I believe she didn’t get together with him very a lot. So, I used to be considering rather a lot about that, like this sort of factor that a number of girls round me—like they’re impartial, they’re residing alone, working jobs, financially impartial—however these males don’t appear to go. So, I used to be considering rather a lot about that, and like, sort of, you already know, that our concepts in India, now we have to have a look at our feminism in a method, preserving these sorts of issues in thoughts. A minimum of for me, that is my perspective. Everyone has their very own. So, like, it’s these lingering males who we don’t need them to outline us, however they’re there. Now, what to do? So, that’s sort of what this movie is about. Like, this Prabha additionally, you already know, sort of making an attempt to go away this chap who simply popped up out of nowhere. So, yeah, that’s it.
For the nurse, she was very open to telling me all concerning the early…like, all these things about studying concerning the placenta, how their coaching was. So, that’s what received me into the nursing occupation—it’s due to all this. She used to inform me about the way it was for them after they have been college students and, you already know, the sort of issues on a day-to-day foundation, the way it was. So, I received very…like, she was very open to maintain telling me. I might WhatsApp her saying, ‘Is that this clinically right?’ and all that. Very beneficiant with that—consulting all the data and the nursing tales. Many nurses have helped on this, and we did so many interviews, however she was one of many first individuals I spoke to.
Aayush Sharma: Riku, I wanted to know, and clarify to me like I’m a 10-year-old. For you, attending to know concerning the characters, struggles, and every part else, play a big position in utilizing sure visible strategies, like lighting and all.
Ranabir Das: Sure, completely. It’s not solely about what a personality is feeling or going by means of this present day but additionally concerning the bigger imaginative and prescient of how a director needs the story to be instructed. So, with every venture I undertake, I make a aware effort to be as true and sincere to the essence of that venture as attainable. It’s about guaranteeing that the character’s journey, feelings, and experiences resonate with the general narrative and the director’s inventive imaginative and prescient.
Aayush Sharma: The vast majority of the movie is in Malayalam, reflecting the fact that many nurses in Mumbai come from Kerala. As somebody who didn’t develop up talking the language, how did you navigate the problem of authentically portraying this linguistic and cultural context? What steps did you’re taking to make sure that the nuances of Malayalam-speaking characters have been captured with depth and accuracy?
Payal Kapadia: I’ve to say, it was robust, and took additional time to get this proper. However I had Robin Pleasure and Naseem, my dialogue writers, who’re each from Kerala and in addition filmmakers. I truly met Robin at FTII, and I’ve at all times favored his writing and quick movies. I wished to work with him as a result of I felt we related properly emotionally, politically, and when it comes to our social contexts. So, I introduced him on board nearly two years in the past, in 2022. He then started rewriting the dialogues primarily based on how we had mentioned the characters. For instance, we determined that Anu could be from Palakkad, so we adjusted her accent and even integrated her particular slang. We additionally labored on how the characters would talk on WhatsApp, utilizing that Gen Z model of texting. Robin and Naseem really devoted a complete yr to rewriting and refining the dialogues.
After we labored with the actors, we’d re-examine the dialogues collectively. The actors would ship their strains, and we’d hearken to the recordings to listen to how they sounded. This course of was important as a result of, in any other case, how would I direct in a language I don’t absolutely perceive, proper? We did a number of rehearsals to assist me get a way of what they have been saying and the way it felt. With Robin’s experience, he’d level out if one thing didn’t sound fairly proper, which was extremely useful. Having somebody like him by my facet made the entire course of smoother and extra genuine.
Aayush Sharma: All We Think about as Mild is a deeply political movie, but a lot of the dialogue round it focuses on its aesthetics or limits its politics to an Indian context, overlooking its common relevance. Have you ever seen this, and the way do you’re feeling about such interpretations?
Ranabir Das: We’ve tried in our personal method, although I’m undecided how efficiently it comes by means of or to what extent we’ve been proper or not. However we’ve tried to incorporate some components. I believe that, normally, any movie you watch is political, whether or not the filmmakers meant it to be or not. You possibly can learn into it, and also you’ll discover issues which might be, in some methods, political. In that sense, there are undoubtedly features of this movie which might be extra straight political, however every part else additionally turns into one thing to interpret and perceive. Finally, everybody may have their very own interpretation.
Payal Kapadia: Yeah, true. However I believe some issues are so deeply rooted for us, just like the context of the papers and the connection, or a number of the little issues we’ve saved within the movie that we haven’t even subtitled. I really feel like there’s at all times this stability between explaining issues and permitting individuals to really feel them. And we’re at all times combating this stability—how a lot to clarify or for which viewers. So, on the finish of the day, that is the stability we’ve discovered for this movie. We’ll see the way it goes with the following one. However yeah, many individuals don’t absolutely perceive our nation. There are such a lot of issues right here, so many contexts, so many layers. Some individuals even ask me if we converse “Indian,” and I’m like, no! So, what can we do? Even throughout the nation, the humanities typically symbolize only one voice and one opinion. Interpretation will at all times be completely different. I believe even inside our nation, a movie about Delhi might be seen otherwise by somebody who’s by no means been there or lived there. All of these items are true, and one in every of my objectives was to keep away from falling into clichés about nursing, the characters, or anything. They’re simply individuals. There’s nothing you possibly can label as clichéd about their identification. That was one thing I believed rather a lot about, however once more, that’s the fantastic thing about cinema. You create one thing, then you definately see how individuals react and study from it, understanding what you probably did and at all times striving to do higher, I assume.

Divya Prabha and Hridhu Haroon in a nonetheless from ‘All We Imagined As Mild’ (Photograph Credit score: Spirit Media)
Aayush Sharma: You might be fairly lively on social media, particularly on Twitter. Just lately, you talked concerning the improper facet ratio in theatres. What occurred there?
Payal Kapadia: Don’t make me cry. please. (laughs) However since I posted it on Twitter, at the very least individuals are speaking about it. I’ve seen that individuals are going, and the courageous ones are stopping the projection. I don’t perceive that—so many movies should be shot in 1.85:1 at the very least.
Aayush Sharma: Mr. Hansal Mehta, the director, mentioned on social media {that a} film like ‘All We Think about As Mild’ is failing to get help from streaming platforms. Was that true? and what did you study from that course of?
Ranabir Das: In our case, there’s some curiosity from streaming platforms that producers are taking a look at.
Payal Kapadia: However the issue is that in our case, since we’re releasing in so many nations, we are able to’t do a world sale. This makes streaming platforms a bit hesitant, I assume—it’s a difficulty for them as all of them need worldwide attain. And we actually wished a launch time. We wished the movie to be in cinemas for an extended length, in order that was one of many factors I put forth—what I might say on this matter. However the different factor you’re stating, distribution is an actual downside. This yr, there have been so many movies from India at Cannes. Administrators of Indian origin, my batchmate Maisa Malli’s movie was there in ACID. It’s a very nice movie, and I believe it was at MAMI as properly. We’re getting consideration within the information and every part, however there have been so many movies there. There was Sister of Midnight, there was Santosh, and Ladies Will Be Ladies, which I believe has executed fairly properly however didn’t get a cinema launch. So I believe we should always discover a technique to watch our personal nation’s movies within the cinema, even when they’re small. Why can’t we get one slot a day for these movies? Why aren’t exhibitors keen to take that problem? Anyway, they’ve multiplexes, to allow them to present the large films, and in the event that they present one smaller movie as soon as a month, it might be superb. The best way she makes movies is unimaginable, so on her personal, and the movies are implausible. I believe so many individuals would get pleasure from watching them, like schoolchildren. They might do outings and take all the children from some colleges to the cinema. The cinemas might provide discounted costs too.
Ranabir: I really feel that these sorts of interactive issues might be a technique to preserve individuals engaged from a younger age and encourage important considering. Cinema can do this as properly. And relating to your preliminary query about OTT, it’s turning into an more and more tough market normally. When it first got here in, it appeared like there was scope for impartial cinema. There was additionally some sum of money that filmmakers and producers might entry.

Picture Credit score: Rediff
Aayush Sharma: Each the movies that you’re a a part of are principally impartial movies. For All We Think about As Mild, you noticed rather a lot backing arising after the film received at Cannes. Then, Rana Daggubatti received concerned in it. As somebody who’s deeply concerned on this film, did you see any sort of distinction in how the film was taken to theatres or distributors as soon as an individual like Rana received into the method?
Ranabir Das: Sure, I imply, he additionally has a distribution firm, so in that sense, he is aware of the exhibitors, he understands the market. I don’t know if it’s merely due to his begin, however yeah, as a distributor, he undoubtedly has some quantity of expertise and data on this space.
Payal Kapadia: I believe it actually helped us as a result of he has, particularly within the south, a number of connections. They arrive from a household of distribution, and he’s additionally placing weight behind the movie. See, we don’t have the price range for large posters or to place it on a bus, and even to have it within the cinema. There weren’t any extra conventional strategies like that. So, speaking to the press and having him there to help was sort of our technique to attain out.
Aayush Sharma: You’ve beforehand highlighted the challenges of securing funding for impartial movies in India. May you share extra about your experiences navigating this panorama and the way it formed the journey of bringing ‘All We Think about as Mild’ to life?
Ranabir Das: I imply, initially, it was a bit scary as a result of we didn’t truly know if the movie would ever get made. However our producers gave us some quantity of confidence, and we confronted just a few rejections as properly. Nevertheless, as we began getting extra funds and the script started growing additional, we began receiving more cash. With that, we felt extra assured, and we realized that it was a system that helped us.
Payal Kapadia: One factor we realized all through this course of is what a producer really is. A minimum of within the West, a producer isn’t somebody who has their very own cash or an organization with funds, however fairly, they’re those who can form your venture in a method that permits you to safe funding from different sources. It’s actually a collaboration. They are going to learn the venture and, in the event that they consider in it, they received’t simply agree with you—they’ll belief their opinion and provide their help. It’s essential to search out somebody whose judgment you belief and who additionally believes in you, and who will say, “Okay, let’s do that. No matter occurs, we’ll make it occur.” We obtained a number of that sort of motivation, even from our producer right here in India. He did his finest to get the movie off the bottom, discovering the best individuals for us to work with, and we ended up with a implausible crew of collaborators. All of that’s what makes the movie what it’s—not only one particular person, however the collective effort of many individuals coming collectively.
Aayush Sharma: I had the pleasure of interviewing Kani Kusruti, and he or she instructed me that you simply (Payal) had envisioned her as Anu. So, how did the change occur?
Payal Kapadia: Yeah, again then, once I was nonetheless a scholar, I wrote about two pages of an idea for the movie, a free concept about two pals who have been nurses. However I hadn’t executed a lot analysis at the moment. It was only a fundamental thought, and I wished to make a 20-minute movie about it. At the moment, I had seen her quick movie Reminiscences of a Machine, and I actually favored her efficiency in it, so we wished to forged her as Anu. Nevertheless, I made a decision to not pursue it for FTII as a result of I felt there was nonetheless rather a lot I wanted to know earlier than making this movie. I didn’t really feel like I had the best connection on the time, so I let it go. After that, I began researching, assembly extra individuals, gathering tales, and ultimately realized it needed to be a function movie. And that, after all, takes time. So I might work on it, then depart it, come again to it, and make one other movie in between. All through all this, I saved sending Kanni the script.
I believed I won’t be capable of do it at a youthful age. Each of us had gotten older, and we have been the identical age, so I questioned, what might I do? However then she mentioned, “Let me strive for the older one.” Nonetheless, I believe I used to be so fixated on her being Anu that it was initially exhausting for me to simply accept that she might play the older model. However she’s simply such a high quality artist, a beautiful actor, and extremely hardworking. It’s wonderful. She is so inspiring, and I really feel so fortunate to have met her.
Ranabir Das: You realize, for Anu, we had seen Divya in ‘Declaration’. Yeah, yeah. And he or she was enjoying an older character in that movie, so we initially considered her as Prabha.

The forged and crew of ‘All We Think about As Mild’ (Picture Credit score: Getty Photos)
Aayush Sharma: The movie makes use of magical realism and lyrical components within the second half. How do you see this mixing of realism and fantasy as a technique to discover the internal worlds of your characters?
Payal Kapadia: Properly, I wished to go from this very day-in-the-life model of metropolis individuals, utilizing broad photographs of a metropolis with a shaky digital camera, to go deeper and deeper, till we reached such an in depth level that we might seize the feel of the pores and skin, the hair on the physique, and the grain of sand. We wished to method it as if we have been utilizing a microscope, the place we first present a large shot after which funnel all the way down to one thing as small because the grain of sand on a person’s physique. The transition from that vérité model to one thing like magical realism felt pure, turning into extra inner. I used to be considering rather a lot about how you can specific want, as in our society, it’s not one thing you discuss. How do you say “I really like you” in English? How do you say it in case you haven’t mentioned it but? It’s tough. We are able to’t specific these items simply. So I believed, cinematically, how will she hear it, or what is going to she say? Cinema permits us to talk with out talking. I wished to discover a language in our personal technique to discuss sure issues, and this gave the impression to be the best method, a magical one. I used to be considering rather a lot about how this had been executed prior to now.
In Rajasthan, Gujarat, or Karnataka on the western coast, people tales typically inform tales about longing and the boys who go away as retailers. There’s a number of journey and many ladies’s tales about how they can’t discuss to their husbands. One well-known one is Duvida, the place the husband comes again as a ghost, and he or she falls in love with him, however ultimately, he will get caught. There are tales the place the person turns into a tree or a thief. Sangam poetry additionally makes use of nature to speak about longing. I used to be enthusiastic about all these items, in addition to a brief story by Márquez I learn the place a person washes up in a village. Whereas he’s handed out, the ladies begin saying issues like, ‘Oh, he’s so good-looking,’ or, ‘His household will need to have made massive doorways in the home as a result of he’s so tall,’ creating their very own tales. Their needs are projected onto the useless man. So I used to be on this concept of not with the ability to converse, and the way we begin projecting issues and discover a technique to launch that ache. In my head, all of it simply made sense.
Payal Kapadia’s ‘ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT’ is enjoying worldwide.