Sister Midnight (dir. Karan Kandhari)

by Jack Martin | Mar 15, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 104 mins

UK Distributor: Altitude Films

UK Release Date: 14 March 2025

WHO’S IN SISTER MIDNIGHT?

Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe, Navya Sawant, Dev Raaz, Chaitanya Solankar

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Karan Kandhari (director, writer), Alastair Clark, Anna Griffin and Alan McAlex (producers), Paul Banks (composer), Sverre Sørdal (cinematographer), Napoleon Stratogiannakis (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A young bride (Apte) finds herself indulging in some odd behaviour…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SISTER MIDNIGHT?

Last year’s Nightbitch didn’t take off on the awards circuit as much as anyone – least of all perhaps Amy Adams – might have hoped. Its mixed reviews are certainly one factor, but another is that there was another film debuting around the same time at festivals with similar ideas and tones that just happened to do them all better, and in funnier as well as more provocative ways.

Sister Midnight, the debut feature from writer-director Karan Kandhari, is the film that Nightbitch was hoping to be but never actually managed to become. Its own themes of transformative female liberation and rebelling against certain expectations of what women must be in patriarchal societies are more focused, more humorous, and indeed more shocking than the Adams vehicle was perhaps too timid to fully address, but beyond all that it’s a quirky tale of what it is to be an outcast within an unexpected genre twist.

Set in Mumbai, India, the film follows a woman named Uma (Radhika Apte) who’s just entered an arranged marriage with Gopal (Ashok Pathak). Unfortunately for Uma, Gopal is utterly disinterested in his new wife, barely spending any time or even speaking with her, instead going out all day and night to drink while she remains alone in their tiny one-room apartment. Needless to say, the much more outspoken Uma quickly becomes bored in her new lodgings, unable to cook or keep the place clean, and the few friends she’s able to make either in her neighbourhood or elsewhere around the city aren’t entirely helpful in their suggestions to spice up her loveless marriage. But soon, a mysterious illness compels Uma to adopt some more, erm, unorthodox methods to quench her thirst for independence, which ends up transforming her into an unexpected creature of feral instincts.

Since the Nightbitch comparisons are already made, I will say that Uma is definitely not turning into a dog, as Amy Adams does in that movie. Instead, her transformation is much more unusual and takes the narrative to some rather dark and morbid places, which make Kandhari’s film rather unpredictable in its plotting as the protagonist takes further and further steps towards her own idea of liberation. The filmmaker plays around a lot with genre – specifically horror – without ever fully leaning into it, balancing its darker and lighter moments by maintaining a consistent deadpan sense of humour, complete with Buster Keaton-inspired physical comedy, that more often than not lands a lot of laughs from the absurdist directions that the plot ends up taking. However, at its centre is a story about someone fighting to retain their own agency in a world and indeed a situation that doesn’t give her much to work with, which the film addresses with its own blend of humour and horror while not losing sight of its universal empathy for what it is to be an outsider, especially in a society where women are expected to behave a certain way.

Going by his vivid and bouncy directorial style, Kandhari is – much like his protagonist – not one to be placed in a categorical box. Neither is his lead actor, as Radhika Apte proves herself to be a fierce physical comedian in a performance that can at once be sharply curt and delightfully unhinged, while landing every single emotional beat with a magnetic presence that defies expectations at every turn. She and her writer-director comfortably lead Sister Midnight to a place that is exceptional in its eccentricity, even employing some old-school filmmaking techniques such as Ray Harryhausen-inspired stop-motion to craft visuals that deliberately seem janky and off-putting, all for the purpose of adding to its unconventional humour.

With Sister Midnight, Kandhari also announces himself as a filmmaker with a strong technical grasp to match his idiosyncratic style. Through Sverre Sørdal’s cinematography, he creates a series of visuals that match the oddball tone of his script, including playful camera movements which highlight Uma’s irreverent experiences in the outer world or even with her useless husband, and pay homage to classic examples of cinema like Universal Classic Monsters and Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (which is recreated in a brief black-and-white interlude, Academy aspect ratio and all). Meanwhile, via the editing by Napoleon Stratogiannakis, Kandhari employs an interesting stop-and-start approach with frequent hard cuts to black that indicate the passing of another day or two, which can sometimes make the film feel a little repetitive but also creates a disorienting vibe that goes hand-in-hand with the fluctuating manner in which Uma undergoes her transformation. Some golden soundtrack choices combining classic folk and old-timey country western ballads also help to establish a strange atmosphere akin to the Coen brothers.

With all that under its belt, Sister Midnight should win more people over than Nightbitch ever did, because it’s a film that’s unafraid to take a few more risks and remain consistent enough with itself to get its messages across in its own eccentric way. Plus, it’s a triumph for both Kandhari, whose own visionary style makes him instantly distinct from other novice feature filmmakers, and star Apte whose fearless lead turn would genuinely catch the approving eye of Buster Keaton and his fellow physical silent-era performers. Most of all, though, it’s a funny and unpredictable ride where you’ll never know what’s coming next, but will always be pleasantly surprised and even inspired by its outsider quirkiness in an industry that likes to stick to the status quo.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Sister Midnight is a unique blend of quirky misfit comedy and dark supernatural horror, brought together well by stylish new filmmaker Karan Kandhari and his fearless lead actor Radhika Apte who both steer the film to unexpected and delightfully eccentric destinations.