Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light wowed Cannes with its portrayal of the struggles of women in Mumbai. She talks about inequality, misogyny – and being haunted

There is nothing ostensibly special about Mumbai, according to Payal Kapadia. There is no iconic building to photograph, no ancient history to mine. “It’s a post-colonial city that didn’t exist before the British came and joined seven islands, purely for capitalism.”

But for the director, who has become one of Indian cinema’s biggest names, there is a magic at the heart of the country’s financial capital, one imperceptible to the naked eye. “Mumbai is defined by the people who travel from all across India to live and work there,” Kapadia says. “The city is in a constant state of flux.”