ALL WE IMAGINE as LIGHT: A RALLYING CRY for FANTASY AND FRIENDSHIP

Whether it's down to the pressure of societal expectations or falling into the trap of living on autopilot, pursuing a life outside the conventional status quo is never easy. Award-winning director Payal Kapadia’s delicate and dreamlike film, All We Imagine as Light, is a powerful reminder that it's most often our friends–our chosen family–who have the power to release us to imagine just who it is we want to be.

As part of our ‘Freedom of Fantasy’ issue, G Ode had the privilege of interviewing Kapadia and one of the film's lead actors, Kani Kusruti–as the film premiered worldwide. For us, the film's depiction of fantasy beyond the sexual realms of our lives serves as huge inspiration for all we’re exploring through this issue and in the G Ode platform at large.

Freedom through fantasy

Although we may think we are all living in the same, tangible version of the world, Kapadia's seminal fiction debut suggests that we are each experiencing our own, continuous blend of both objective reality and subjective fantasy as we go about our daily lives–one foot in reality, the other often wandering in fantastical dreamscapes.

All We Imagine as Light enters awards season as one of the year's strongest and most popular titles, receiving critical acclaim for the cinematic language it explores. The narrative is advanced heavily by what the audience sees and hears as much as through dialogue, rendering a dream-like state.

“I like cinema that is slightly supernatural, talking about dreams was very much a part of my life growing up. I think dreams are important, for me they’re very much a part of our reality” Payal Kapadia

The effect is to deliberately blur the lines between real-life events and imagination as an everyday story of three women working at a hospital in Mumbai unfolds, inviting audiences to consider how both fantasy and friendship can help us find the freedom to discover who we really are and the life we really want to lead.

Release through friendship

The film's main protagonists, Prabha (Kusruti), Parvaty (Chhaya Kadami), and Anu (Divya Prabha), are friends who have each come to the big city from their own rural home towns. Prabha and Anu are roommates with a big sister/little sister dynamic. Anu is the young rebel dreamer while Prabha is the no-nonsense grown up. Parvaty, the eldest of the three, has the strongest sense of self and, consequently, the most spirit to fight against the system.

All three face their own struggles as they navigate the trials and tribulations of a patriarchal society: Prabha is navigating the absence of her estranged husband who left without a word shortly after their marriage; Anu is caught up in the thrill of romance with a Muslim boyfriend fantasizing about her future with him; Parvaty is facing eviction from her home because she can't prove ownership since her husband's death.

For both Kapadia and Kusruti, the story’s importance lies in the detailed character portrayal of its central female characters and the lives they’re navigating.

“All these characters in the film, including the male characters, all of them are trying to live in a city where they don't speak the same language or live the same life, but they are trying to survive. Some of them really suffer and then they kind of give up and leave Mumbai. But these three women find a certain kind of friendship and triumph through it. They accept the differences in each other even though it's really hard for them–especially my character, like she's very rigid–but the transition at the end of this film for her is so powerful, and it is her friends that free her mind to find that release” Kani Kusruti

The fantasies we live in

The relationship between these women serve as a metaphor for the workings of the human mind: One half in fantasy, refusing to be constrained by reality; the other, rational, real, pragmatic. Each character oscillates between the two, but together they inspire each other to dream big and realise the futures they desire:

“Anu embraces possibility and desire the most. She constantly pushes Prabha who is much more safe and reserved, but Parvaty is almost the strongest of the three. Whilst she is more resigned, she has a bravery and a subversive attitude that bucks all societal expectations–she doesn’t even want to live with her son, which for Indian mothers is huge” Payal Kapadia

The dance between reality and imagination that Kapadia creates hints at much deeper stories for the three. Much like Mumbai itself, nothing can be taken at face value. Throughout, Prabha’s lengthy commutes on the train serve as a cinematic representation of the disconnect between the obligations she feels and the life she really wants.

“Prabha as a character doesn’t express herself, she doesn’t talk, she’s always the receiver. Her only expression is her body or us entering the internal landscape of her mind through a soundscape whether that’s the hypnotic sound of the train or rain. When those sounds become juxtaposed with what she’s masking in her face, it becomes a metaphor for what’s happening in the deepest confines of her mind” Payal Kapadia

On receiving the unexpected gift of a rice cooker, believed to be from her estranged husband, we see Prabha’s stoic composure challenged: Is he trying to send her a message through this symbol of traditional family structure? Jolted by this disruption, she and Anu take the opportunity to accompany Parvaty on a trip back to her coastal village. There, Prabha finds herself free to explore what she really wants through an imagined conversation with the man who left her.

Our dreams, realised

“In the film, Prabha’s husband is like a sea creature coming out of the sea. West Indian folklore has always been a way for women especially to have their own desires represented in a perverse way. For me there’s no real way in Indian culture for women to express themselves in these terms. In this scene, Prabha manifests or projects what she wants to say and hear from her husband. She’s attracted to the idea of having a husband–for him to say “I miss you” was her fantasy, she makes him literally say it in this imagined moment but then realises that it's not actually what she wants. In her fantasy world she can come to terms with her future. The biggest change in her character happens then.” Payal Kapadia

And through this same lyrical, dreamlike quality, Parvaty finds a way to unshackle herself from her role as a mother, wife, and cook, and Anu finds stability in her relationship despite its controversial nature. In each case, the strength of the characters' unconventional friendship gives them the confidence and safety to explore their most deep rooted–and transformative–fantasies.

“The way we live life is so ingrained in society, in India especially. The relationships we have are very coded–mother, father, nation–so structured. For me, our friendships are a relationship that has not been written about as much. But they’re the foundation of so much possibility. Identity is such a big issue in India in terms of family. But friendships–your chosen family–free you from those conditions to find who it is you really want to (and can) be” Payal Kapadia

All We Imagine as Light finds a fresh way to explore how imagination can help deprogram conditioned beliefs as well as bring our desires to life, letting us experience how we might feel if we get what we think we want. Most importantly, it shows how powerful our friendships can be in creating and holding space for us to think beyond the limits placed upon us.

It’s an incredibly inspirational reminder of the power of friendship and community, and what we hope, in time, that G Ode can inspire for all of you.

All We Imagine as Light is currently on general release in cinemas worldwide.

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