MUMBAI, India — There’s a scene in All We Imagine as Light, where a middle-aged cook and a nurse, lit by the glare of streetlight, laugh and hurl rocks at a banner advertising a luxury development — the construction of which will raze the cook’s home. Then the women bolt.
That cathartic protest — small in the face of the obstacle it must tackle — speaks to how this movie captures the mismatched odds between workers and the city they keep running. Directed by Payal Kapadia, the film also centers on the friendships between women who are otherwise alone.
Kapadia’s skill in drawing out these themes has been widely acclaimed. Her film was the first from India to win the Grand Prix at Cannes since 1946, the second highest honor at the world’s most famous film festival. The New York Times and The Associated Press called it the best movie of 2024; it won best international feature at the Gotham Awards.
Those are just the highlights. But what that list doesn’t include: the Oscars.
The international acclaim for All We Imagine as Light raised hopes that India might finally have a serious contender for an Oscar in the best foreign film category. And it was indeed considered by the Indian committee that selects a film to be the country’s submission to the Oscars.
Deciding which movie should represent a country as vast and cinematically prolific as India is always difficult. Ultimately All We Imagine as Light was not selected, but the reason why generated much controversy: The judging committee felt that the film was not Indian enough.
Ravi Kottarakara, president of the Film Federation of India, the body that forms the jury to select India’s submission — told Hollywood Reporter India that the jury felt it was like “watching a European film taking place in India.” Perhaps he was referring to its broody light, the lingering shots, the story’s gentle unfurling.
What defines a film as Indian?
“I’m at a loss on this,” says director Kapadia. “I don’t know how we can define what is Indian and what is not, but the actors are Indian. The entire crew was Indian,” she says, except for one French citizen.
And so was the story’s subject matter. The film follows three women living in Mumbai. Parvaty is trying to save her home with the help of Prabha, a stoic nurse — who is like an older sister to her roommate Anu, who’s always late paying the rent. Anu has fled small-town life to live in Mumbai, but even here, she’s harshly judged because she’s Hindu and has a Muslim boyfriend in a place that abhors mixed-faith romance.
Mumbai, the city of more than 20 million people, is the other main character: A place where billionaires share the same streets with children who sleep on sidewalks. Mumbai is shown through the prism of these women. It’s largely filmed in the darkness, through windows of apartments, buses and on train commutes to work, in pre-dawn and late-night darkness.
“I don’t remember a film that has captured Mumbai as intimately as All We Imagine as Light,” says Ankur Pathak, a Mumbai-based assistant director and writer. “From the houses that feel so lived in to just the struggles of working women.”
Enter: the light
The light — of the movie title — literally enters the movie when the women leave Mumbai to help Parvaty resettle in her ancestral village. The break from the city helps each of the women find a way to shuffle alongside life’s hardships.
But Kapadia’s movie touches on uncomfortable themes for many Indians, most controversially, the sexual relationship between the Hindu protagonist, Anu, and her Muslim boyfriend, Shiaz.
For years, the ruling Hindu nationalist party, BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has accused Muslim men of luring Hindu women to Islam through relationships, an unfounded conspiracy that is nevertheless widely-believed and is known as “love jihad.” Nearly a dozen of India’s 29 states have introduced laws that ostensibly tackle this conspiracy by banning the use of marriage to pressure someone into converting.
Kapadia says she deliberately sought to explore how love is “a very political decision” in India by creating a relationship between two characters “that would face a lot of difficulty” but “in a very natural way — that they are actually just two people, two young people who had fallen in love.”
It works, says Ankur Pathak, a screenwriter and assistant director. “You’re … rooting for the love story and not being distracted by the political messaging.”
Did Cannes victory lead to a backlash?
But screenwriter Pathak doesn’t think Kapadia’s exploration of controversial relationships caused the Oscar snub. It was the film’s languid sensibilities, he says. “The very fact that it won at Cannes,” he says, shored up a preconception among Indian filmmakers that Kapadia’s work was catering “to the European gaze.”
For its submission to the Oscars, the film federation picked “Lost Ladies,” by prominent female director Kiran Rao. It’s a big-hearted movie about two brides who are mistakenly picked up from the train station by the wrong grooms — because they are both wearing similar veils covering their faces.
But the movie hasn’t had the same international buzz as All We Imagine As Light, which film critic Anna Vetticad says is key for an Oscar win. “If you are choosing to send the film to the Oscars, then it makes sense for you to figure out which film you think has the biggest chance of winning,” she says.
Lost Ladies did not make it to the shortlist of Oscar finalists.
Adding to the controversy, the all-male jury explained their choice of movie with a statement that began with, “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance.”
Kottarakara, the film federation of India, told local media that the jury had meant to imply that Indian women are like Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune, and like Kali, the goddess of death, time and violence.
“Their description was quite ridiculous and condescending,” says film critic Vetticat — condescending both to the movie that India selected to win an Oscar, she says as well as to the one it saw as not Indian enough.
With additional reporting by Omkar Khandekar
Transcript:
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
This year, an Indian film emerged to rare international acclaim from the Cannes Film Festival to the Golden Globes. And yet it was snubbed at home, as NPR’s Diaa Hadid reports from Mumbai, where the film was shot.
(SOUNDBITE OF BREAKING GLASS)
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: There’s a scene in “All We Imagine As Light” where two women hurl rocks at a banner advertising a luxury development – a development that will raze the home of one of the women.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE BLOWING)
HADID: That sly protest, small in the face of the obstacle it must tackle, speaks to how this movie captures the mismatched odds between workers and the city they keep running – the friendships between women who are otherwise alone.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)
HADID: For her skill in drawing out these themes, director Payal Kapadia is being widely celebrated.
(APPLAUSE)
HADID: Her film was the first from India to win the Grand Prix at Cannes in more than 70 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “2024 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS SHOW”)
HIROKAZU KOREEDA: Grand Prix goes to “All We Imagine As Light,” by Payal Kapadia.
(APPLAUSE)
HADID: She won best international feature at the Gotham Awards. The New York Times and The Associated Press called it the best film of the year. Those are just the highlights. The film follows three women – Parvaty, who’s trying to save her home with the help of Prabha, a stoic nurse.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT”)
KANI KUSRUTI: (As Prabha, non-English language spoken).
HADID: Prabha is like an older sister to her roommate Anu, who’s always late paying the rent. Anu is in Mumbai to flee small-town life, but even here, she’s harshly judged because she’s Hindu and has a Muslim boyfriend in a place that abhors mixed-faith romance.
(LAUGHTER)
HADID: And the light of the movie title comes in when they reach the sea.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in non-English language).
HADID: The light comes in when they leave Mumbai, a city of more than 20 million people from billionaires to children who sleep on sidewalks.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE BLOWING)
HADID: The city’s viewed through the prism of these women, largely from windows in pre-dawn and late night darkness on their train commutes to work.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN)
ANKUR PATHAK: I don’t remember a film that has captured Mumbai as intimately as “All We Imagine As Light”…
HADID: Ankur Pathak is a Mumbai-based assistant director and writer.
PATHAK: …From, like, the houses that feel so lived in to just the everyday struggles of working women.
HADID: The international acclaim that “All We Imagine As Light” garnered raised hopes that India might finally have a serious contender for an Oscar in the best foreign film category. And it was indeed considered by the Indian committee that selects a film to be the country’s submission to the Oscars. But “All We Imagine As Light” wasn’t selected because the judging committee felt the film wasn’t Indian enough. Ravi Kottarakara, president of the Film Federation of India – the body that forms a jury to select India’s submission – explained to local media that the jury felt like “All We Imagine As Light” was like, quote, “watching a European film take place in India.” Perhaps he was referring to its broody light, the lingering shots, the story’s gentle unfurling.
PAYAL KAPADIA: I’m at a loss on this.
HADID: That’s director Payal Kapadia. She asks, what is Indian then?
KAPADIA: I don’t know how we can define what is Indian and what is not. But the actors are Indian. The entire crew was Indian.
HADID: Except, she says, for one French citizen. For its submission to the Oscars, the film federation picked “Lost Ladies” by prominent female director, Kiran Rao.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HADID: It’s a big-hearted movie about two brides who are mistakenly taken by the wrong grooms. But the film hasn’t had the same international buzz of “All We Imagine As Light,” which film critic Anna Vetticad says is key for an Oscar win.
ANNA VETTICAD: If you are choosing to send a film for the Oscars, then it makes sense for you to look around you and figure out which film you think has the biggest chance of winning. Otherwise, why are you bothering to send one in the first place?
HADID: Adding to the controversy, the all-male jury explained their choice of movie with a statement that began, quote, “Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance.” Kottarakara of the Film Federation of India told local media that the jury meant to say that Indian women are like Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune, and like Kali, the goddess of death and violence. Vetticad again.
VETTICAD: Their description was quite ridiculous and condescending.
HADID: Condescending both to the movie that India wants to win an Oscar and to the one that it sees as not Indian enough. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)