Shahana Goswami, Payal Kapadia, Triumph At Asian Film Awards

HONG KONG (ANI)– Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light won the prestigious Best Film award at the 2025 Asian Film Awards, held on March 16 at the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District.

The film competed against strong contenders, including Black Dog (China), Exhuma (South Korea), Teki Cometh (Japan), and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong).

During her acceptance speech, Kapadia expressed her gratitude: “Thank you so much to my lead actors—three incredible artists and human beings. They are the ones who made this film what it is. I’m so happy that we could end our journey here in Hong Kong, a city that has meant a lot to me.”

All We Imagine As Light, starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Anand Sami, and Hridhu Haroon, follows Prabha, a troubled nurse who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her roommate Anu, longing for intimacy with her boyfriend, joins her on a journey to a beach town where they confront deep-seated emotions and desires. The film is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

In other awards, Shahana Goswami won Best Actress for her role in Santosh, directed by debut filmmaker Sandhya Suri, who also took home the Best New Director award.

Goswami expressed her gratitude with a touch of humor, saying, “I’d also like to thank myself. I feel like I’m always under-confident and never give myself enough credit, so I want to thank the Asian Film Awards Academy for this vote of confidence,” as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Santosh follows a young Hindu widow who inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable through a government scheme. As she works alongside veteran detective Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) on a brutal murder case involving a lower-caste Dalit girl, she struggles with institutional corruption. The film is an international co-production between the UK, India, Germany, and France.