#santosh

The biggest triumph of All We Imagine as Light is how it frames the search for intimacy, particularly for women, as an act of dissent in contemporary India. Prabha needs closure after her husband abandoned her and left for Germany shortly after their arranged marriage. There are hints of a blossoming romance with a doctor at the hospital, but she’s so unsure of herself and her needs that even the possibility of exploring her own desires terrifies her. She’s also touch-starved, to the point that when a rice cooker arrives on her doorstep, presumably sent by her estranged husband, she finds a private corner and engulfs it in a tight embrace, imagining it as a hug from him. This moment closely resembles a scene in Sandhya Suri’s film Santosh (2024)—another Indian feature at this year’s MIFF—where a widow hugs the police uniform of her husband slain in action, craving his presence when he’s no longer around. Both films—Kapadia’s and Suri’s—explore how women carry unrealised, repressed anger by virtue of having to operate in a world that doesn’t understand their needs and desires.

2025 BAFTA Nominees for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer