All We Imagine Is Light, a small film on two nurses in Mumbai, is currently the most talked-about Indian film globally. There is good reason for that. Last week, the Payal Kapadia directorial became the first Indian film ever to win the Grand Prix at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. It was the first major win by any Indian film in the competition category at Cannes in 41 years. The relationship drama is headlined by Kani Kusruti, an actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema.

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Who is Kani Kusruti?

Born to social activists and human rights activists Dr Jayashree AK and Maitreya Maitreyan in Thiruvananthapuram, Kani followed her parents’ initiative to drop her last name as a child. At the age of 15, she invented her last name, which means mischievous in Malayalam. She made her acting debut in theatre in 2000 before making her film debut in 2003 with Anyar. She was first noted for her role of a sex worker in the 2010 release Cocktail. In 2014, she diversified to Tamil cinema with Pissau and then to Telugu with Spyder in 2017. Earlier this year, she gained praise for her supporting act in the Prime Video series Poacher. While Kani has not worked in Hindi films, she has worked in a number of web series in the language, ranging from OK Computer and Maharani to Killer Soup most recently.

When Kani Kusruti quit films

In 2019, Kani Kusruti revealed that she briefly quit acting a few years prior to that after being fed up of sexual demands from filmmakers. She claimed that some filmmakers even approached her mother to convince her to give in to their demands. She returned to theatre during this time but said that she was unable to earn enough money to sustain and returned to films soon after.

All We Imagine As Light

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light is the story of two nurses – played by Kani and Divya Prabha. The film also stars Chhaya Kadam in a pivotal role. The film became the first from India in 30 years to compete for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival when it was selected for the competition section in 2024. It eventually won the Grand Prix, considered the second biggest prize at the festival behind the Palme d’Or. It is yet to release in India.

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