ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT has its share of lovely moments

All We Imagine As Light Review {2.0/5} & Review Rating

Director: Payal Kapadia

All We Imagine As Light Movie Review Synopsis:
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT is the story of three women. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) works as a nurse at K L Ratan Hospital in Mumbai. Her husband dumped her and left for Germany. Prabha stays with a younger nurse, Anu (Divya Prabha). The latter is secretly in love with a man named Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon) and she has kept the relationship fiercely private due to their religious differences. Prabha’s friend and confidant in the hospital is Parvati (Chhaya Kadam), a cook who is facing eviction from her decades-old residence from a builder. Prabha tries her best to help Parvati in her fight, but the effort proves futile. Parvati decides to leave Mumbai and return to her hometown in Konkan, Maharashtra. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

All We Imagine As Light Movie Story Review:
Payal Kapadia’s story is relatable. Payal Kapadia’s screenplay is unhurried and gives viewers a chance to understand the lives of the characters authentically. Payal Kapadia’s dialogues are straight out of life.

Payal Kapadia’s direction is film festival-like and gives a déjà vu of SHIP OF THESEUS [2013] and other such niche films based in Mumbai. Her execution is such that it is difficult sometimes to imagine that one is watching a film. Moreover, the loneliness aspect ties the three women together and it’s the most striking part of the film, especially that of Prabha. In her case, it’s also heartbreaking. At the same time, it’s also joyful that these three women are independent in their own way and are also there for each other.

On the flipside, the film gets abstract at an important juncture, and it’ll leave viewers bewildered. The audience would also feel dejected as the director keeps some questions unanswered. Both these aspects would heavily impact the small section of the audience that the film is targeting. Lastly, despite the buzz generated by the film overseas, there’s very little excitement or even awareness in India about it.

All We Imagine As Light Movie Review Performances:
Kani Kusruti gets into the soul of the character completely. She has minimal dialogues and speaks a lot through her eyes. Divya Prabha understands her part perfectly and performs accordingly. Chhaya Kadam, as expected, rocks the show. Her role might seem similar to the one she played in LAAPATAA LADIES [2024] but no complaints as she is too good. Hridhu Haroon, Azees Nedumangad (Dr Manoj) and Anand Sami (drowned man) lend able support.

All We Imagine As Light movie music and other technical aspects:
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT is a song-less film. Topshe’s music is minimal and neatly merges with the narrative style. Ranabir Das’ cinematography is raw and almost makes you feel that you are peeping into their lives. Maxima Basu’s costumes and Piyusha Chalke, Shamim Khan and Yashasvi Sabharwal’s production design are straight out of life. Clément Pinteaux’s editing is slow moving but at a few places, it stagnates.

All We Imagine As Light Movie Review Conclusion:
On the whole, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT has its share of lovely moments but will suffer heavily at the box office due to the niche treatment, sudden abstract narrative and negligible buzz.