[Exclusive] It all feels so surreal: actor Kani Kusruti on her film’s Cannes win

At the recently concluded 77th edition of Festival De Cannes, filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix, becoming the first Indian film in 30 years to win the competition.

All We Imagine as Light is a compelling story of Prabha and Anu, two Malayali nurses living in Mumbai. Disillusioned by relationships, they embark on a road trip to a beach town. According to the shared plotline, a mystical forest becomes a space for their dreams to manifest. 

The movie stars Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha in the lead roles. Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the film received an eight-minute standing ovation from the audience. 

“It all feels so surreal. I did not expect such a long standing ovation. It felt very overwhelming,” says Kusruti in a conversation with HerStory.

“In the days following the premiere, respected and experienced actors from other countries came up to me and told me that they noticed the nuances in my acting. I found these comments very valuable,” she adds.

Kusruti, an actress and model from Kerala, comes from a solid theatre background, having completed her theatre education at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. She has starred in theatre productions Bhagavadajjukam and Las Indas, and the stage adaptation of Hermann’s Hesse’s Siddhartha. She researched, developed and acted in Burning Flowers – 7 Dreams of a Woman, a Indo-Polish production.

The actress began getting noticed after appearing in the anthology film Kerala Café, and she went on to essay roles in mainstream movies such as Shikkar and Cocktail. She became popular after her role of Teresa in the Malayalam series Eswaran Sakshiyayi.

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Kusruti carried a clutch in watermelon design on the red carpet at Cannes; the watermelon slice is a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

On making the statement, she says, “As an individual, I sometimes share multiple thoughts and process how to take a stand on certain issues. We are living in a world where extreme events are happening simultaneously, and it’s not a good time.”

Kusruti believes that the attention should not be on her alone, but what All We Imagine as Light has achieved. 

“We started shooting the film as an independent, small-budget one, and everyone has worked so hard to make it. To be able to be nominated in the Grand Prix category and go out there and win it at Cannes feels very surreal,” she says.

Kusruti lauds Kapadia and everyone involved in the making of the film.

“It has been one of my best experiences in films. While shooting for the film, we were all in an equal space, I must admit, actors a bit more than the others, but we were all on the same plane, trying to make it happen,” she says.

“When I read the script, it felt poetic and touched me deeply. It also gave an overwhelming feeling. When I watched the film, I was happy it stayed very close to the script,” she adds.

Her theatre background, she avers, has helped her immensely in making the right choices. 

“It has helped me be grounded and adaptable to any challenge or situation. As theatre actors, we don’t allow any challenge or situation to pull us down.”

When asked about her comeback to Malayalam cinema, Kusruti laughs and says she wished there were more opportunities to audition for roles in the industry. 

“Auditions have not happened. I would love to do comedy,” she says.

Her upcoming projects include a couple of Malayalam web series, a Malayalam film, a Hindi film and a web series. And hopefully, a Tamil film too in the pipeline, she adds. 

(The story has been updated to correct a typo.)