‘Women Are Often Depicted in Media Through a Male Gaze’: Payal Kapadia

'All We Imagine As Light' has garnered two nominations at the 2025 Golden Globes.

'All We Imagine As Light' director Payal Kapadia. 

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram) 

Filmmaker Payal Kapadia sits down with The Quint to talk about her film ‘All We Imagine As Light'. Talking about the film’s success, Kapadia says, “When we are making films in the independent film industry it comes with a lot of ups-and-downs. For every success you see there's 5 rejections in my email. You just try to go one step at a time.”

When asked about infusing her personal experiences into the film, the filmmaker says, “The younger nurse Anu (Divya Prabha)...I was closer to that age when I started writing and I was closer to Prabha's (Kani Kusruti) age when I finished writing.”

“I was looking at the film through Anu's age when I was younger. As I grew older I felt I was a bit judgemental towards older women and as I grew older, I felt myself having that judgement towards younger women. We're so taught to judge each other as part of our patriarchal set-up even if we don't want to. For me the two characters were a representation of my two halves; of negotiating morality.”

Payal Kapadia, Filmmaker

Kapadia goes on to talk about how she wrote some of the characters in the film, how women are portrayed in the media and more.

Watch the video for more.