Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light deftly points towards the cracks in the foundations of Mumbai’s rapid urbanisation, which the flowers of female companionship struggle to break through.  

via SFF  

All We Imagine as Light maintains the detached lens of Kapadia’s previous documentary feature film A Night of Knowing Nothing, which was also presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 to similar critical acclaim, earning Kapadia the Oeil D’or award. From the opening scene itself, it was clear that Kapadia was no stickler for the boundaries of narrative genre. We are immediately thrust onto the streets of Mumbai, whose road-shoulders harbour a never-ending crowd of Mumbai locals. As we pass by, we catch glimpses of their faces looking inquisitively into the camera before carrying on with their day; the camera is so shaky I am almost positive it must be perched atop the engine of an auto-rickshaw. A male voice joins in atop the atmospheric hustle and bustle, and for a moment, having known only from the basic plot synopsis on the SFF website that the film was about a nurse and her roommate, I thought I had walked into the wrong cinema.  

The male’s narration is later echoed by other disembodied voices one after another, which I quickly realise must be audio clips of real interviews with citizens of Mumbai, all of whom have moved into the city seeking connection and companionship in the masses, and are yet inexplicably unable to grasp onto anyone. The image of Mumbai as almost desolate and empty in its expansive loneliness is singularly jarring when we are still presented with the images of so many individuals carrying about their lives along the streets themselves. It is at the very moment that we begin to wonder how it is possible for one to feel so isolated in one of the world’s most populous cities, that Kapadia finally allows the film’s protagonists to become appear in our glimpses of the city.