8 hours Ago By Mid-day
As the 97th Academy Awards, more popularly known as Oscars 2025, got underway, many Indians are thinking about how Payal Kapadia’s 2024 film ‘All We Imagine as Light’ never made saw the light of the prestigious film awards. It could have been a serious contender, after grabbing eyeballs when it won the Cannes Grand Prix last year, but wasn’t chosen as India’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category, as it lost out to ‘Laapataa Ladies’, which also failed to make the final nominations.Interestingly, the Oscar committee thought Payal’s film wasn’t ‘Indian enough’.
Interestingly, those who watched can easily identify how the film is more “Indian” than ever, and more than that “Mumbai”. Set in Mumbai, the film not only opens with the Dadar Market but follows through with the trains, known as the lifeline of the city, and by now famous around the world. Love for Mumbai local trainsWith so many different themes in the film, what prompted the director to showcase the trains? Interestingly, the Mumbai-based filmmaker has had a unique love for the Mumbai local trains.
She shares, “I was always shooting in the trains. My biggest pre-occupation is always taking photos in the trains. That’s why I became obsessed with wanting to shoot in the train because of all those years of documenting and taking pictures.
Just seeing how the light is different, women negotiating the general compartment, how children are there in different ages with their mothers. It was always there and it was because of that that I made it the central of the film.” In a city and country that is forever crowded as it cradles a two billion population, Payal adds, “Just to see how we occupy public space and the body language that comes with it.
You know how in Mumbai, the famous thing is the half butt, which occupies the fourth seat. How everybody is fitting into that half butt seat -- all these things interest me to see how people navigate life. I observed this throughout and that’s why I put it in the film.
” However, the filmmaker says they did a lot of documentary-style shooting for the film but couldn’t shoot in the trains because it has its own set of challenges.She adds, “So, for that (train) scene, we had junior artists, so they are not real people. We took the 4 am train up and down, and it was the last time of our shooting shift, and everybody was tired.
So, we didn’t tell them to act, and just let them be and shot that. We said let’s keep it as a loose as possible.” However, they made the most of it and that can be seen in how every person in the train embodies the spirit of the city in more ways than one.
Showcasing migrants and real estateWhile the film has many elements of Mumbai, it also showcases many people that make up the city and the city housing so many migrants, is a story that has been told but Payal chooses to tell the story from the lens of Malayalam-speaking nurses. Their inclusion though, Payal says was quite purposeful. She explains, “When I started writing the story, the first material I got was after I spoke to Malayali nurses, and they told me about placenta, birth control, which I got through chats with them.
So, when I was making the film, I thought I should keep them. It also added to the themes in the film that I wanted to talk about. It was about women who are not from the city and have come from different parts to work here because nursing is a profession that women do leave their states to work elsewhere so I felt they had to be from outside.
”Interestingly, their role was beyond the representation but also stemmed from their use of the Malayalam language. She adds, “Malayalam then became an interesting language to use because it plays an important role in the relationships. For Dr Manoj, who can’t speak Hindi, it is a problem of so many people.
Then for Anu and Shiaz who want to talk intimately in the bus, language plays a big role in privacy.” An Indian language isn’t the only medium of expression that Payal uses to showcase their romance, as she took it a step further by introducing a very unique piece of music. “It is by an Ethiopian nun Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou.
She has an amazing body of work and died in 2023 leaving behind this amazing music. When I heard it, something about it really made me feel alive. It felt like in the beginning of romance when everything is interesting, this music gave me that feeling.
So, I used this music at the lead motif for Anu and Shiaz relationship, so whenever they are there, it is there.” Even as she has won the 2024 Cannes Grand Prix, and the Oscars nominations are a disappointment, Payal believes she is a part of many Indian filmmakers whose films are going to festivals. She expresses, “I am a part of many filmmakers whose films are going to festivals, and Cannes isn’t the only one, you have Locarno International Film Festival, you have Venice Film Festival.
We have a great record at those festivals too. Rotterdam Film Festival even has a whole section on India films. Rima Das is a pioneer.
I think I am part of a large movement of filmmakers pushing the boundaries of cinema and trying to come up with their own voice.” Spot these 3 Mumbai locations in the filmJamboree ParkThere are many locations that were used in the film including the Goregaon Skywalk, which never made it to the final cut. However, Payal says Mumbaikars can look for Jamboree Park, which features on more than one occasion.
It is an aspect that Payal talks about that is synonymous with the city, as she dwells on how sitting on swings in parks is also a very Mumbai ‘thing’, and when the characters in the films can’t find place, that’s where they sit. Parel (Skyline of Mumbai)The scene when the nurses are taking the clothes out when it starts raining has been shot in Parel and that can be spotted because of the Mumbai skyline, which Payal reveals see shot from a vantage point that brings out the whole of the city. On one side you see the glass buildings and on the other side you can see the chawls but one artist has gone and painted hands on it.
It is a really interesting graffiti of hands of people who work in the flower market. I feel the artist has done an interesting juxtaposition of the buildings being there and the artist’s response to this. The graffiti in the area is nice to see.
Dadar wholesale marketThe film starts with the Dadar wholesale market that goes away by 7 am after it starts by 4 am. There also you can see when they are offloading the trucks, in the background, you can see the big buildings, and that clears out in the day..
