Sister Midnight movie review: Wildly engaging, surreal and terrifying

Film: Sister Midnight
Cast: Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe
Director: Karan Kandhari
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 110 min.

Karan Kandhari’s directorial debut, “Sister Midnight” is the story of young wife, who unravels beyond boiling point, morphing into a virago that the spineless husband didn’t expect.

Uma (Radhika Apte), displeased by her marriage to the mild mannered Gopal (Ashok Pathak) and the domestic, sexual and emotional expectations that go with it, goes off on a tangent. Uma is frustrated by Gopal’s lack of spine and his detour into alcoholism. As a couple, they are not meant for each other. There’s neither chemistry, nor compatibility to work with.

Uma prefers not to be inundated by domestic expectations and instead passes her time strolling through the constantly-bustling streets of Mumbai. She develops friendships with her neighbor, the funny, happily married Sheetal (Chhaya Kadam), and a male coworker. Uma also gradually develops a connection with hijras who she meets on her way to work. She too feels like an outsider.

Uma is not one who accepts or adapts. She boldly goes her own way. Uma doesn’t believe in fate. Her quest for stimulation results in a psychotic transformation into a feral creature. In that, she literally flies off the handle with nighttime forays and horrific acts. Cultural expectations and conventions are what triggers Uma’s descent into insanity.

She develops a bizarre power over animals, and even manages a strange spiritual self-realization trip. It’s an unfamiliar and original world with the story going off on tangents that may be hard to comprehend.

Mumbai city is a character in itself in this film. The city in fact represents the chaos within Uma. Her mood swings are as transient and wild as the turbulent transitions of the city. The film is colourful, vibrant, beautifully lit and chaotic. Even the chaos feels deliberate.The eclectic song selections are wild – Motorhead, American blues, assorted asian soundtracks etc setting the mood for a  background score by Interpol’s Paul Banks, who makes his debut as composer, that provides a fitting rhythm for this descent into insanity. Napoleon Stratogiannakis editing is sharp and brutal, befitting the temper and nature of the story.

Radhika Apte holds you in thrall, embodying this deeply troubled creature with finesse, putting on an exemplary performance of great depth and ferocious intensity. She deftly merges with the tonal shifts, handling delirious comedy and unpredictable emotional transitions with utmost ease. Apte’s ferocious representation of monstrous femininity and Kandhari’s blindingly clear perverse vision of what he wants to represent, are the glue that holds this chaotic descent into hell together. Dark, twisted, absurdly comic, surreal and terrifying, this film is a genre bender all the way through.

This article first appeared on Mid Day