Oscars '25: Why Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine as Light’ deserved more

As the 97th Academy Awards more popularly known as Oscars 2025 got underway many Indians are thinking about how Payal Kapadiarsquos 2024 film lsquoAll We Imagine as Lightrsquo 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 wasnrsquot chosen as Indiarsquos official entry in the Best International Feature Film category as it lost out to lsquoLaapataa Ladiesrsquo which also failed to make the final nominationsInterestingly the Oscar 2025 committee thought Payalrsquos film wasnrsquot lsquoIndian enoughrsquo Interestingly those who watched can easily identify how the film is more ldquoIndianrdquo than ever and more than that ldquoMumbairdquo 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 worldLove for Mumbai local trainsWith so many different themes in the film what prompted the director to showcase the trains Interestingly the Mumbaibased filmmaker had a unique love for the Mumbai local trains She shares ldquoI was always shooting in the trains My biggest preoccupation is always taking photos in the trains Thatrsquos 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 filmrdquoIn a city and country that is forever crowded as it cradles a two billion population Payal adds ldquoJust 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 thatrsquos why I put it in the filmrdquo However the filmmaker says they did a lot of documentarystyle shooting for the film but couldnrsquot shoot in the trains because it has its own set of challengesShe adds ldquoSo 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 didnrsquot tell them to act and just let them be and shot that We said letrsquos keep it as a loose as possiblerdquo 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 oneShowcasing migrants and real estateWhile the film which was a favourite to be an Oscar 2025 nominee 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 Malayalamspeaking nurses Their inclusion though Payal says was quite purposeful She explains ldquoWhen 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 outsiderdquoInterestingly their role was beyond the representation but also stemmed from their use of the Malayalam language She adds ldquoMalayalam then became an interesting language to use because it plays an important role in the relationships For Dr Manoj who canrsquot 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 privacyrdquo An Indian language isnrsquot 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 ldquoIt is by an Ethiopian nun Emahoy TsegueacuteMaryam Guegravebrou 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 thererdquo 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 ldquoI am a part of many filmmakers whose films are going to festivals and Cannes isnrsquot 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 voicerdquoSpot 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 lsquothingrsquo and when the characters in the films canrsquot find place thatrsquos where they sitParel Skyline of MumbaiThe 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 artistrsquos 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