Looks are deceptive. The Payal Kapadia who walked in at PVR-INOX (South City) last week, in her simple ikat kurta, a pair of baggy brown pants, a crushed dupatta wrapped casually, a tan bag slung around her neck, hair scrunched up loosely and strappy sandals, could easily be a university student, leaving campus after a day of brainstorming, to relax with an earthen pot of tea at the roadside stall in the heart of south Calcutta. She was both urbane and earthy. She was the first Indian director to win a Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival 2024 and the girl next door, exchanging warm hugs with friends who had come to watch her labour of love, with her. In this duality or rather an organic unison, also lay Payal’s sublime ode to ‘sisterhood’, All We Imagine as Light, that a packed PVR- INOX savoured, layer by layer. An aftertaste that’s divinely human and humane. Her protagonists Parvaty, Prabha, and Anu, all had their own struggles. That made them individuals, yes, yet they were us, in all their frustrations, helplessness, jealousy and their small victories.
Post-show, there was a silence. The film, playing out against the backdrop of a Mumbai that at once seemed alienating and all-embracing, had stirred something in all of us. A mirror of sorts. As Team All We Imagine as Light took a bow, everyone rose to applaud their effort.
Payal just smiled, with her cinematographer Ranabir Das and musicman Dhritiman Das, by her side. Sweet. Simple. Much like natural light.
