‘We captured the moment’: Actor Divya Prabha on the Cannes dance by the All We Imagine cast

On May 25, Kapadia became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix, the second-most prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival after the Palme d’Or. In her acceptance speech, she thanked her cast, all of whom shared the limelight with her. They were all part of the first Indian film to make it to the main competition in 30 years. The last film to make the cut was Shaji N Karun’s Swaham (1994).

“The dance can be interpreted as a triumph of womanhood, of the struggles we had gone through to achieve what we achieved,” Prabha said. This, however, was not the only mode of expression from the film’s cast. Another lead actor, Kusruti, held a bag resembling a watermelon slice — an act of solidarity with the war-ravaged Gaza.

For Prabha, however, the role was what mattered the most. It was unlike anything she had done in her film career, which started a decade ago.

Kapadia’s team had rehearsed for months for the film, Prabha said. “The shoot was for about 40 days. But I was associated with the film for about eight months and had rehearsed the role for two,” she reminisced while on a train to Italy.

The role needed the time she spent on it. She explained why: “I am a 33-year-old who got to play the role of a 25-year-old. So, I had to get into the character — walk and talk the way she would and be spontaneous the way she was.”

In the Indian film industry, where women actors get fewer roles as they grow older, Kapadia’s film offered a breather. “It is extremely rare for women to get younger roles. Usually, it is male actors who get to play younger roles.”

She played the role of a nurse whose life changes when she gets an unexpected gift from her estranged husband.

While happy that All We Imagine As Light won the Grand Prix, Prabha is not sure if this could be a career-altering moment. “After every major role I did, I felt a break was in sight. But it was not to be. This (the win at Cannes) can be a break if I get good opportunities in the future,” she said.

Prabha also remembered that this was not her first European visit. Ariyippu (Declaration), a film in which she played the lead role, was the first Malayalam film to be in the Locarno Film Festival’s competition section in 2022.

For an actor who came into the film industry “by chance”, each triumph seems like a dream. An MBA degree holder, Prabha was on a morning walk in her home state Kerala’s Kochi city when she passed a film shooting location and got her first role in 2013. “Someone just walked up to me and asked if I would want to act in a small role. I agreed,” she said. The rest, as they say, is history, or her-story.