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Payal Kapadia’s name is now synonymous with cinematic excellence. Her recent triumph at the 77th Cannes Film Festival with her debut feature, All We Imagine As Light, marks a remarkable turning point in a career defined by both artistic vision and fierce determination as the film bagged the Grand Prix award. The film is headlined by actors Divya Prabha, Kani Kusruti, Azees Haneefa, Hridhu Haroon, Lovleen Misra and Chhaya Kadam. However, Kapadia’s path to glory wasn’t always smooth. Back in 2015, as a student at India’s prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, she found herself at the forefront of a historic four-month protest against the appointment of a ‘controversial figure’ as institute chairman. This act of defiance led to disciplinary action, a lost scholarship, and even an FIR against her.
In 2015, while a student at FTII, Payal Kapadia spearheaded a historic 139-day protest against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, a television actor, as chairman. Citing his lack of qualifications, she and other students boycotted classes, a decision that resulted in disciplinary action.
On the 68th day of their unrelenting protest, Prashant Pathrabe, the then director of FTII, issued an order that students of the 2008 batch vacate the hostel and presented a notice to assess their incomplete film projects — an action deemed “irrational and unjustified” by the protesting students. Unfazed, the students confronted Pathrabe in his office, forming a human chain and refusing to leave until their demands for clarification were met.
After the police were called to quell the protest, the situation worsened. Five students were arrested in the midnight crackdown that ensued, and a total of 35 students, including Payal Kapadia, were named in the charge sheet. According to a report published in Hindustan Times, Kapadia, daughter of renowned artist Nalini Malani, faced disciplinary action, lost her scholarship, and was barred from participating in the foreign exchange programme — penalties that she shared with seven other students.
A year after the crackdown, FTII appeared to soften its stance towards Kapadia. In 2017, when her 13-minute-long short film Afternoon Clouds — a story of an elderly lady and her domestic help — was selected for the prestigious Cannes International Festival, the institute issued a letter of support and offered to cover the filmmaker’s travel expenses to the festival.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola explained, “Our decision to support students or deny them scholarship previously was based on how their conduct has been on the campus. A few days after the protest was over, many students came to me and said they never realised that their past actions would haunt them throughout their lives. Some of them even cried and regretted their actions.”
Payal Kapadia later made a documentary, titled A Night of Knowing Nothing — a poignant tale of a woman penning letters to a distant lover, unfolding against the backdrop of the protest. The documentary went on to earn her the coveted ‘le prix du documentaire’ (Best Documentary) award at Cannes in 2021.
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