All We Imagine as Light is a beautiful film. It has all the characteristics of a memory that is stirred within the mind when you smell a particular food, hear the sound of the train, or get a sip of chai. It is a film with Cinematography by Ranabir Das. His signature composition, close-ups, and color coding are a treat to witness. The direction by Payal Kapadia enabled the conception of this film.

Art is never simple and the individuals who may say that something is "simple and sincere" perhaps have no idea what goes on in the clustered wires of neurons of people behind the art.

The film is sincere, but it is not simple. Being set in Mumbai, it follows the lives of Malayali Nurses and a cook. The majority of the dialogue is in Malayalam and only some is in Hindi. It describes the life of the women, their conditions, feelings, wants and needs, all the while never being descriptive. It is a narrative, only if you can consider the camera the narrator. It is a drama, if you consider life dramatic. It is painstakingly nuanced and human.

I appreciate the character's depth, their uniqueness and how they depicted the city of dreams by depicting their own lives in it. No matter how long someone stays in Bombay, the decades do not soften and give way to home. It will always remain a city, an amalgamation of people and their ethics.

Prabha, and Anu are the roommates and at the same time nurses who are in focus, Prabha's past is still being held on by a thread that she won't let go of, and Anu's present is being shunned by the larger community of nurses around her. In a way, they are both going through things that are a byproduct of personal feelings and societal norms with which they grew up. You still feel what they feel. You are with the characters and the film gives you the time to experience it all. The pacing is uniform, and slow.

Much more serious is the condition of Parvati the cook at the hospital where the nurses work at. There is great trouble regarding not having papers of her residence and the builders threatening her, as the high rises on the plot would earn them a bit more. Her story is quite a realistic one, and thus much more pessimistic.

The human, compassionate feeling of the dialogues was appreciated from start to finish and not once was I disinterested. Although characteristic of good movies passing by fleetingly, this one I savoured and the intermission felt as a relief, as the panning landscape shot had me scared that the credits would start rolling. The rest of the movie had left me satisfied. When the actual ending was near, it was not abrupt, but compassionate. The starting being a blue morning in Mumbai, the contrast was evident with the warm night just before the credits.

I am glad I watched this film, and I hope you watch it too.