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The film depicts three women of different generations: Prabha and Anu, nurses working at a hospital in Mumbai, and Parvathi, who works at a restaurant. They live in Mumbai, a melting pot of caste, religion, language, and more, and while they face worries and problems, they help each other and try their best to survive. The most serious of these is the issue of marriage. Although the three women are in different positions in the past, present, and future, they are all troubled by problems that arise from marriage.
"In India, throughout history, there has been a term called 'the politics of love,' and who one marries is deeply connected to politics. The caste system is a major obstacle in this regard. I think the reality in India is that the issue of marriage can become a directly political issue."
Kapaliyah is originally a documentary filmmaker, and her film, "A Night Without Knowing," depicts the student protests of 2016, but by weaving in a fictional love story about a female student, she is able to portray the reality of the students on an emotional level. However, in "All We Think of as Light," she does the opposite by incorporating documentary-style shots of the people living in Mumbai into a feature film, bringing to light the real life atmosphere of the city.
Director Payal Kapaliya's first feature film depicts the sisterhood of three women of different generations: Prabha (Kani Kusruti), Anu (Divya Prabha), and Parvati (Chaya Kadam), who work at a hospital in Mumbai. The film will be released nationwide on July 25th. Her previous film, "A Night Without Knowing," will also be released in limited release.
"I see the potential of film in mixing and juxtaposing elements of fiction and documentary. I believe that by doing so, we can get closer to expressing the truth."
The opening shot, which pans horizontally across the city of Mumbai, is reminiscent of films such as Letters from Home by Chantal Akerman, a pioneering female film director whose films transcend the boundaries between fiction and documentary.
"I really like Akerman, and the shots that often appear in her films, where the camera is mounted on a car or train and travels across a town, capture the town's architecture, people, and street atmosphere, and they have had a big influence on me."
The piano music that plays as Anu walks through the streets of Mumbai, sometimes happily with her lover and sometimes troubled, frees the film from the stereotype of an Indian film. It is actually "Homeless Wanderer" by the little-known Ethiopian nun Emakhoy Tsege Mariam Gobleu.
"When I listened to her music, I felt a premonition of love. It was a piano piece, so it was definitely Western music, but the music was made in the pentatonic scale, which is familiar to us Indians, so I chose it."
On the other hand, one thing that concerns me is whether these indie films, even if they receive international acclaim, are available for everyone to watch in India.
"Until around the 1980s, there was government support, grants, and even government-run movie theaters. But now that's gone, things are very tough. But even in this situation, the number of people making independent films has increased, thanks in part to technological advances such as cheaper and easier-to-obtain equipment. In that sense, I think the film scene is growing, and this film was somehow released to the public."
Finally, we asked the director about his upcoming projects.
"I'm currently working on the last two films in a trilogy set in Mumbai, including All That We Think Is Light. The theme of the film is to portray socially alternative families and social structures in the city of Mumbai."
