FORM-Idea

The city of Mumbai in India is like no other, originally made up of seven islands, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.  Bombay, as it was originally called, underwent a land restoration project in the 1700’s, which transformed the city into what we see today, one of most prosperous ports in the world.  With more billionaires living there than anywhere else in Asia.  This prosperity acts as a magnet for those living in India’s regions as well as for those living in other countries close by. Thus, creating a city of startling economic inequalities between the rich and the poor.  But despite this people are still drawn like a magnet to it, and it’s rare to find someone living there who was actually born in the city, it is rather a city of immigrants. A point emphasised in Payal Kapadia’s award-winning feature All We Imagine is Light. The film is in many ways a beautiful love letter to Mumbai.  A tale, which places three women’s lives at its centre.  The film seems to say that despite the fabulously wealthy living there, the people who make Mumbai such a unique place in which to live, are the simple people, those who have gone there to pursue their dreams.

The three women the film focuses on are all nurses who work at the local hospital.  Prabha, a senior nurse, has been abandoned by her husband, who went to work in Germany and never returned, Parvaty, who formerly worked in the hospital but now runs a local café, is on the brink of eviction because her now deceased husband never passed on the documents, she needs to prove she owns her home.  Then finally there is Anu, much younger than the other two, she is in love with a Muslim man and is determined to chart her own way forward.

All three women’s stories are told with a lightness of touch, which is enhanced by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou’s non-traditional score.  While cinematographer Ranabir Das manages to find beauty even in Mumbai’s notorious chaos.  With sound recorded live, the film has an almost immersive quality, you feel that you are physically there watching these women’s lives.

The movie changes gears as Anu and Prabha accompany Parvaty on a road trip back to her native village after she finally decides to give up her Mumbai home.   The slower pace here allows all three women an opportunity to reflect on their lives, particularly Prabha who through the use of magical realism clearly sees for the first time how stuck her life has become and how only she can change this.All we Imagine is Light is a beautiful film, about women’s choices perhaps suggesting that even in the midst of uncertainly beauty can still be found.