Films that explore the alienation of women amidst the frenetic pace of life carry a deep impact, reflecting the universal human yearning for connection, love and belonging. These narratives often centre on protagonists grappling with disconnection, depression, and exclusion, reflecting the struggles many face in real life. Some focus on individual quests for meaningful relationships, while others capture the paradoxical loneliness of urban living, where vast, bustling cities can feel empty without genuine bonds. In certain stories, loss or separation intensifies the isolation, leaving characters to confront the void within. By exploring these experiences, such films offer expressive insights into the nature of solitude, revealing both the pain of disconnection and the resilience of the human spirit. 

Payal Kapadia’s film All We Imagine As Light is a moving reflection on loneliness, displacement, and resilience, following the lives of three women as they face personal challenges in the bustling environs of modern Mumbai.  The film captures the subtle life-world between individual desires and systemic constraints, reflecting universal themes of alienation and belonging. Through the dotted stories of Prabha, Anu, and Parvathy, Kapadia constructs a narrative that is both deeply intimate and socially evocative, testing the quiet struggles of women often rendered invisible in a patriarchal and stratified society.

Set against the backdrop of Mumbai, Kapadia’s debut fiction feature introduces the city not merely as a setting but as a living entity—a sprawling, agonising universe that signifies the emotional locale of its inhabitants. The opening montage, with its depiction of street scenes and migrant voices, condenses the city’s paradox—a place brimming with opportunities yet rife with alienation. Within this environment, the protagonists struggle with their own battles. Prabha, a Keralite nurse, carries the weight of an estranged marriage and the emotional limbo it creates. Her younger roommate Anu, another nurse from Kerala, impulsive and rebellious, sustains a clandestine romance with Shiaz, while wrestling........

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