The wait is over: There was no Oscar nomination for “All We Imagine as Light,” the Indian movie that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival but was snubbed by the country’s own film federation.
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The wait is over: There was no Oscar nomination for “All We Imagine as Light,” the Indian movie that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival but was snubbed by the country’s own film federation.
Now the recriminations will increase. If India had nominated the film in the best international feature category, would it have had a chance? Most Indians became aware of the sublime film only when it won at Cannes, where no Indian movie had even reached the main competition as a nominee in 30 years.
After all, “All We Imagine as Light” has been named best international film by the New York Film Critics Circle, and best foreign-language film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the San Diego Film Critics Society, as well as many other honors. Last week, it was nominated for best foreign-language film by British film association BAFTA. But only the originating country can submit movies for the Best International Feature Oscars category.
Lost in the fracas over this movie is the remarkable surge of female cinematic talent that has blossomed over the past decade in India. Indian films have traditionally used women merely as good-looking props, but women in these new movies are the protagonists, with complex challenges and lives. Women directors are telling stories considered taboo that do not conform to the propaganda machinery of the state, stories of casteism, misogyny and Islamophobia. These are subjects that mainstream filmmakers and stars will not touch.
Over the past decade, most mainstream Indian films have tried to stay true to the diktats of the government, with many echoing state propaganda; there have also been blockbusters that have been deeply regressive, female-bashing films that normalize extreme violence. Women filmmakers are reclaiming that space.
Even without Oscar recognition, “All We Imagine as Light” has made a strong impact inside India, where young women are responding to its message about the power of female friendship. Director Payal Kapadia features subjects not often seen in Indian movies — migrant workers, overcrowded trains, the struggles of the working class — set in the fast-paced city of Mumbai. This is a film of beauty, about love and longing, and finding your own community.
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The film, an Indo-French co-production, explores the life of three women working in a hospital, each with her own heartbreak. Prabha, the head nurse, has been largely abandoned by her husband, who lives in Germany. A nurse who shares an apartment with her, Anu, is a Hindu who is secretly dating a Muslim man. And then there is Parvaty, a cook in the hospital, fighting to save her home from developers. The film captures the profound loneliness people can experience in an overpopulated city.
Another film that premiered at Cannes is “Santosh,” made by British Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri with an all-Indian cast and partly Indian crew. Shot in northern India, the film is Britain’s official entry to the Oscars in the international feature category, and made the short list announced in December of movies to be considered for nomination. The film shows the underbelly of policing in India as seen through the eyes of two women police officers.
Santosh is a newly widowed woman who is offered her dead husband’s job as a police constable. Investigating the case of the rape and killing of a Dalit (lower caste) girl, she watches as suspicion falls on a Muslim friend of the slain girl. Santosh is not free of prejudice herself, and the internal struggles she goes through to get justice constitute the crux of the film. She is not a female supercop with heroic qualities but a vulnerable human who rises to the occasion. The film, which has won multiple international accolades, has yet to clear the censor board and thus has not been released in India.
The movie that was chosen as India’s official entry to the Oscars — “Laapataa Ladies” — is, ironically, also a film about women directed by a woman. It’s a heartwarming lighthearted drama on the theme of feminism set in rural India. The film is about two brides, each wearing the traditional long bridal veil, who get mixed up on a train and end up in misadventures. Kiran Rao, the director, creates moving moments of realization and self-discovery by the women, one of whom has never been to school and the other who is being forced into marriage with an abusive man despite her desire to make a career for herself. The movie, which has been a streaming success in India, did not even make it to the Oscar short list of 15 international feature films.
Another film now streaming in India is “Girls Will Be Girls,” by first-time director Shuchi Talati. It’s about the complex relationship between a girl at a boarding school who is having her sexual awakening and her mother, who inserts herself into the daughter’s relationship. With its frank look at female sexuality, as well as generational tension between a mother and a daughter, it’s ahead of its time for India. In a country where some girls are still married against their wishes, and others are deprived of basic education, these movies present a stark contrast to the norm. The women directors have stood up for their belief in cinema as a reflection of society and its flaws. Last year was truly a revolutionary one for Indian cinema.
During the controversy about “All We Imagine as Light” and the Oscars, Indian media revisited an incident that continues to plague Kapadia 10 years later. The future director was one of 35 students charged with rioting and wrongful confinement during protests after the Modi government installed a divisive figure as the head of their school, the Film and Television Institute of India. Some have speculated that was the reason her movie was snubbed.
Kapadia was clearly not about to be drawn into the Oscars dispute. Asked about it in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, she responded that instead of dwelling on the competition between “All We Imagine as Light” and “Laapataa Ladies,” “people should be rejoicing” that these two films directed by women have done so well. To the Cannes officials, she said: “Please don’t wait another 30 years to have an Indian film.”
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