Venu Menon
Wellington, August 12,2024
An award-winning Indian film has stirred audiences at the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) under way in Wellington.
Written and directed by Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light made waves at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Grand Prix Award.
High Commissioner of India to New Zealand Neeta Bhushan, addressing the audience at the film’s screening in a packed Embassy Theatre in downtown Wellington on Sunday, August 11, said the turnout spoke volumes about “the love of Indian cinema among Wellingtonians and [audiences] all over New Zealand.”
Lauding the film for its artistic merit, High Commissioner Bhushan noted that Indian films “are known for their entertainment value and excellence, which have been recognised all over the world.”
She commended New Zealand audiences for being “very appreciative, and very encouraging,” adding that that helped promote “our cultural and people-to-people ties.”
Referencing the recent state visit to New Zealand by Indian President Droupadi Murmu, High Commissioner Bhushan said it “was reflective of the immense value attached to India-New Zealand relations by both our governments, and how both sides are working very hard to take the relationship forward.”
Kapadia’s film transports the audience to the interior landscape of the private world of two nurses living in the bustling Indian metropolis of Mumbai.
The migrant nurses, from the southern state of Kerala, struggle with alienation amidst the urban sprawl and find solace in their friendship.
But their bond is strained when one of them is drawn to a Muslim man. The narrative is driven by director Kapadia’s unerring eye for blending the visual with the emotional in what is in the end an understated ode to the triumph of the human spirit against the backdrop of Mumbai, the “city of illusions.”
The nurses, Prabha and Anu, find their lives hurtling towards a crisis-point on a suburban beach as Prabha, in a chance voyeuristic moment, is witness to Anu’s tryst with her lover.
But instead of fracture there is healing and the film ends with hope and optimism, prismed through a luminous final scene that captures the film’s title.
Seamless performances by Indian vernacular actors Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Hridhu Haroon, Chhaya Kadam, and others, ensure the film is true to its cultural moorings without losing its universal appeal, ably assisted by Ranabir Das’s cinematography.
The film features Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi dialogues, with subtitles in English.
Kapadia previously won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for her film, A Night of Knowing Nothing. In 2019, she won the Best Short Film award for And What Is the Summer Saying.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
