A common characteristic of most of what we refer to as big cities is that they are all expansive and yet at the same time they induce an incredible feeling of claustrophobia in you. It is not because of the sheer number of people who move to these cities in search of their dreams, but rather because of the severe lack of connectivity between them that makes one human to begin with. Migrating to a new city always takes away from one the comfort that a home provides - and the mundane life that awaits them leaves them in lieu of the warmth they need to get through a cold monsoon evening. Trapped in a never-ending loop of being a working professional and household chores, forced into a humdrum to work the cog of capitalism, how does one find time to comfort oneself? What of the dream, of the illusion of hope that they saw in their mind?

Love can heal this pain - it is so potent it gives someone an excuse or a reason to endure the misery as long as they know in their hearts that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Romantic, sororal, fraternal, anything that resembles a human bond that ushers your will to live and survive the soulless megalopolis.

As mentioned in the film, the big city is an illusion, and if you do not believe in the illusion you will go mad. For someone like me who moved out of their hometown to such a city in search of work, Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light is a melody that lulls you to sleep and lends you a comforting hand to hold, letting you believe in the illusion if only for a moment - for one cannot live the illusion while they wake. A distraction that lets you believe even for a fleeting second in the plans and dreams that you envisioned yourself growing into in an alien setting. It reminds you of the hope that you had for love, and that the struggle to be loved is one that should never be abandoned.

Apart from being incredible, film also transcends the medium in a political sense. This is a filmmaker exerting her will upon the fascist machinery that works tirelessly to silence and destroy anyone like her. A woman who participated in the struggle against the cancerous spread of the Hindutva ideology and was subsequently the victim of a hit job on her career for the mere reason that she chose to question what was wrong. A film that is bold and liberated - it has a mind of its own that free from prejudice, and free from the claws of Edward Scissorhands alias CBFC. A rare example of her sheer stubbornness to overcome what was otherwise a dead end to put Indian cinema as a whole on the world map once again, a token that we must utilize to restart a dormant movement of cinema that does not pander to the killing machine, and one that does play into the feudalist nature that still hangs over the sphere of cinema that does float on its own.

I will never forget the day I met Payal Kapadia. I met her only by sheer luck. I decided for some reason to attend the screening of her documentary at the IDSFFK in 2022 in the midst of my semester exams. In fact, I got into the cinema hall without even knowing what film they were about to show. I just wanted to see my friend whom I hadn't met in a while. One decision that changed the trajectory of my life. It relit the slumbering anger I had inside me induced by my helplessness concerning the situation in the country. A young man revitalized upon seeing the sheer power that comes with being a student and the responsibility we have to fix what is broken. I may never do anything that is going to be of note, but those 100-odd minutes changed the way I viewed myself and the world. I will always be grateful even if just for that.