“Mumbai is a contradiction,” says Payal Kapadia on the release day of All We Imagine as Light, her luminous, empathetic feature debut that scripted history by winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and has finally released domestically. Almost as an illustration of her statement, the film has opened in a limited capacity not in Mumbai, where it is largely set, but in far-off Kochi (the Malayalam title is Prabhayay Ninachathellam). The film, among 28 others, was in contention to be India’s official entry to the Oscars but lost out to Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies.
All We Imagine’s unusual, centre-wise release strategy has been formulated by Spirit Media, Telugu star Rana Daggubati’s banner that picked up the India distribution rights after the film triumphed at Cannes. It is also releasing in the US and France.
A still from ‘All We Imagine as Light’
Fronted by Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha, and evocatively shot by Ranabir Das, Kapadia’s film chronicles the friendship and longings of two Kerala nurses co-habiting in Mumbai. It was the first Indian film in 30 years to compete for the Palme d’Or, and the first-ever to win the Grand Prix, the second-highest honour at Cannes.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII, Kapadia’s alma mater) tweeted their congratulations, the discourse back home was electric: many pointed out how, while the country is quick to claim cinematic glories at prestigious forums, the support and infrastructure for independent films remain dire. It was said, for instance, that the Government had yet to release the rebate promised to international co-productions like All We Imagine.
Asked about the status of the rebate, Kapadia tells The Hindu: “It was still in process when I was hearing about it but now I think it will be really soon.”
Excerpts from an interview with Kapadia and Daggubati...
There must have been other bidders from India after the Cannes win. How did the domestic distribution deal with Spirit Media work out?
Rana Daggubati: A partner of mine at the company, Prateeksha Rao, was the first to get an understanding of what the film was and she got all of us to watch it. We were blown away by the fact that there was such a beautiful film that was made right here and we didn’t know about it. It’s so lovely and Indian in its craft. It’s about Malayalis living in Bombay, Maharashtra, and it’s about the culture of Bombay. It’s everyone’s story yet no one’s... in some form. It needed a different approach from the regular cinema that we normally see in theatres.
At Spirit Media, the idea is to find unique voices and make sure they are heard. We’ve always done it in Telugu as a regional set, because it was a smaller auditorium. But this is now a fun exercise for us to expand to other territories.
Payal Kapadia: Right after Cannes, we met with Prateeksha. We wanted to work with Spirit Media because they had a clear vision for the film. It’s not easy what they are doing because there has not been much distribution of independent cinema in India, especially in the theatrical space. I appreciate the collaboration between mainstream and indie because we are a collective industry. When you get support from bigger filmmakers and artists, it’s a great structural method for us to build a culture and ecosystem for independent titles.
Payal Kapadia, second from left , winner of the grand prize for ‘All We Imagine as Light,’ poses with Divya Prabha, from left, Chhaya Kadam and Kani Kusruti during the photo call following the awards ceremony at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 25, 2024 | Photo Credit: Scott A Garfitt
Whats is the plan ahead to take the film wider?
Rana: The idea, at present, is to make sure that in every large film-watching industry or community, the film has a limited run. In other countries, there is a festival circuit for people to understand and get a niche auditorium together at once. But in India, this is probably the first time we’re doing this exercise: moving state to state where organically this film is going to grow. Obviously, the film has got many international distributors. We want to sync up on a future date where it can have a bigger release and hopefully by then there is enough of fanfare for the film. In Kochi, on the opening day, September 21, the first two shows filled up in two minutes on BookMyShow. So that’s independent cinema and the Kerala audience for you.
Also Read | ‘All We Imagine As Light’ win for all women in India who weren’t on Cannes stage, says Kani Kusruti
What are the changes required to cultivate an indie-appreciating culture in India?
Rana: The crazy or annoying thing for me is that we had to hear about this film once it travelled to international festivals like Cannes and Toronto. It’s funny that there is no ecosystem for us to talk to each other in India. In the Telugu industry, independent filmmakers have three or four preview theatres to show their work to distributors. It’s small but at least that space exists. But there’s nothing like that across the country.
This is the first step where we moved out of our comfort zone from Telugu and said okay, let’s try to work cross country and create a plan. We have done it for commercial films, but this is the first time we’ve taken something indie. I’m sure this will bring in many, many more stories.
Payal: Earlier in India, we used to have funds that would support independent films. Now we don’t have that many. So access to funds that can be both Government and private, but where it’s a system, are needed. That system exists in the West and it’s a system I’ve benefited from. It’s also good to have labs and film markets to meet potential investors and distributors. Right now, the festivals happen in one corner while the distributors are on their own. So there should be an avenue where everything comes together.
Director Payal Kapadia, Grand Prix award winner for the film ‘All We Imagine as Light’ poses during a photocall after the closing ceremony of the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes | Photo Credit: Sarah Meyssonnier
Rana: Global festivals were first created for tourism. Cannes was created so people from across the world could come to one place. In America, all cinema happens in the state of California and they created the Oscars in the early days. We don’t have that ‘one thing’ happening in India except the National Awards. Just like how independent cinema needs grants, major awards need grants and those ecosystems need grants. It’s only recently, with the success of films like Baahubali, RRR and KGF, that we have started slowly to speak one language cinematically as a nation. The time for independent cinema will come around in due course.
‘All We Imagine..’ has been lauded as a tonal achievement. It critiques the brutality of the migrant existence of Mumbai while also capturing more nuanced shades..
Payal: For me, the city is a contradiction. It has its plus points which is why so many of us move here. For women, especially, it’s a little bit easier to travel in Mumbai and it offers many possibilities. For instance, why do so many people come to work in the film industry? But Mumbai is also awful sometimes. To survive every day, to travel by train on the Harbour line... which will definitely get flooded in the monsoons. I wanted to present all these contradictions in the film. It’s a city I was born in, though I have always lived outside. You tend to notice a lot more in your own surroundings when you leave and come back.
Rana: I’ve been up and down Bombay for the last 10 years. It feels like home, but it’s not home in some crazy manner. I’ve shot here more than I’ve shot in Hyderabad. There’s something that never ‘settles’ because of the extremely high energy. It’s not the lazy Nizam’s life back home. Then again, Mumbai is the real land of opportunity, and the smartest people I’ve met in my life are from Bombay. The enthusiasm, the energy, the hardness to get something done — they have it.
Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, Kani Kusruti, Payal Kapadia and Divya Prabha attend the ‘All We Imagine As Light’ red carpet at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 23, 2024 in Cannes, France | Photo Credit: KRISTY SPAROW
Payal, what are favourite mainstream Indian films? And Rana, your favourite indie ones...
Payal: I really liked Karan Johar’s recent film, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. I used to enjoy Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man films growing up, especially Deewaar. I used to watch all the Govinda No.1 films. Pa Ranjith’s Sarpatta Parambarai and Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat, from recent years, are also great mainstream films.
Rana: Sairat for sure was independent when I first saw it (laughs). There’s a Telugu film, C/o Kancharapalem (2018), which we had the opportunity to release. It’s set in a small town near Vizag and the director cast around 80 non-professional actors from there. Malayalam cinema makes delightful slice-of-movies and that’s the cinema that we’re quite used to. In Tamil, Vetrimaaran’s Visaranai (2015) is a hard-edged, solid film that I have seen. So yeah, I’m not that indie actually. I’m the bad guy from Baahubali, dude.
Published - September 24, 2024 05:08 pm IST
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