Karan Kandhari’s debut feature film, Sister Midnight, starring Radhika Apte and Ashok Pathak, is an absurd black comedy with unpredictable twists and turns that will keep you on edge. The film is quite the visual treat; from the very first frame, you can determine that the filmmaker is not interested in grounded portrayal—instead, the interpretation of reality is deadpan, comical, synchronized, and at times poetic. The Wes Anderson style of storytelling— hyperbolic characters, a storybook-like narrative, balanced frames—has also been an obvious influence. Cinematographer Sverre Sørdal captures the essence, or rather the chaos, of Mumbai aptly. It is pretty evident that Kandhari intended the film to be consumed by a global audience in the way he blends the very spatially rooted visuals with a broad range of music (Everything from Cambodian ballads to Iggy Pop and The Stooges). The usual narrative framework is disregarded, and what we witness is pure experimentation, even though not all of it hits the mark. Radhika Apte is in her element as Uma, and Ashok Pathak’s Gopal is adorable.
It all begins with an arranged marriage. Uma and Gopal had met a couple of times during their childhood days. Uma’s antics left her family thinking she was deranged, so they arranged for her to be married to Gopal, the most undesirable boy in the village. Maybe the girls didn’t approve of him because he was not as masculine as his male peers—he was extremely shy and meek. Uma felt trapped the minute she entered Gopal’s tiny room in the slums of Mumbai. This was not the life she’d envisioned for herself. The constant noise from the streets and the lack of sunlight and air in the room left Uma wondering if her life was even worth living, and the fact that her husband was afraid of her didn’t help.
Spoiler Alert
Why did Uma get a job?
Uma felt the urgency to escape from her mundane existence. Within a day or two, she figured she was not meant to live a domestic life. She didn’t know how to cook, and even after she figured out the basics of the kitchen, she couldn’t see herself spending every morning cooking meals for her husband. She could barely express her feelings to Gopal. She tried to get intimate with him, but he responded with a handshake. He was busy at work in the morning, and by the time he returned home, he was drunk. Uma resolutely stated one day that she wanted to travel, and she expected her husband to fulfill her demand. Gopal obliged. They embarked on a journey only to realize that they had poorly planned their itinerary, and they returned home defeated.
Uma found a friend in Sheetal, her neighbor. Sheetal was equally bored and lonely, and together they complained about their lives to each other. Uma’s frustration grew unbearable with time, and one day, she decided she’d had enough. She was living in a city she barely knew, but she was street smart, and she refused to let her fear get the better of her. Uma arrived at the train station and figured she wanted to spend the afternoon at Marine Drive. For a minute, she felt at peace watching the waves roar and crash, but soon, sadness caught up with her. Uma stared in disgust at the people crying their hearts out. Tears spoiled her mood, and she ran as fast as she could from the spot. She decided to take a job at an office nearby. She responded mockingly when she was asked if she knew how to clean. It was not a job that required expertise, so she didn’t hesitate to state she was indeed the goddess of cleaning! The job helped Uma avoid Gopal. By the time he returned home, she had to leave for work. The less they saw of each other, the easier it was for her to run away from her feelings. With every passing day, Uma felt weaker than before. She hadn’t eaten since the day she attended Gopal’s cousin’s wedding. She assumed it was a case of food poisoning, but she soon came to understand it was a complex sickness.
Did Uma turn into a vampire?
Was it the insect that bit her at the wedding that turned Uma feral, or was it a metaphor to comment on the suffocating practice that forced one to marry a stranger and become a passive spectator of one’s own life? Well, it depends on the answer you’re searching for. Not everything that unfolds in Sister Midnight has a meaning, and that’s precisely what makes it bizarre and absurd. Uma metamorphosing into a blood-sucking being can be interpreted as a commentary on women being historically labeled witches the minute they dare to defy norms. Uma didn’t helplessly accept her fate; instead, she showed the courage to fight it. Her menial job at the office was her way of living a little, or at least doing something of relevance in the world outside.
The repeated mention of Uma’s fairness immediately after she ‘converted’ hints at the whole vampire angle as well as the South Asian obsession with fair skin. Uma had stopped eating; she was skin and bones, yet it was at this time that everyone around her complimented her fair skin—it goes on to show how neo-Victorian beauty standards have convinced us that the thinner, the weaker, and the paler we are, the more beautiful we look. Uma felt suffocated in her marriage; it was almost as if the arrangement was sucking the life out of her body, and it was designed to turn her into a puppet who would obey the norms of a patriarchal society. Her turning into a vampire and quenching her thirst at night by targeting helpless birds and animals is almost a literal representation of her experience. The magical element unfolds when the dead birds and animals transform into puppet-like creatures who look up to Uma for direction.
How did Gopal die?
When Uma told Gopal the truth, he didn’t know how to react. Gopal’s colleague and his wife, who lived next door, interrupted their conversation, and they ended up going to the beach together. They didn’t have anything in common, and Uma refused to spend the afternoon getting bored to death. She could relate to the pet dog Gopal’s colleague had brought along, who wanted to break free and run around the beach. Uma decided to take the dog on a walk, and she ended up giving the dog away to an eager kid. It was her way of giving the dog a chance to live a better life. Needless to say, the colleague and his wife were upset, and to avoid them, Uma and Gopal decided to spend the entire day exploring Mumbai.
After spending the day together, they felt deeply attracted to each other. Gopal accepted Uma’s condition, perhaps because he always thought she was too good to be his wife anyway, and he didn’t think her sickness was a problem. Uma took charge, and they finally made passionate love. But Uma was a vampire, and her act of passion ended in Gopal’s death. She struggled to process what had transpired. Just when she thought she felt acknowledged in their relationship, Gopal passed away. He was her only family, and she didn’t know how to react. Uma was also afraid of her neighbors finding out about his death. She used to spend her mornings at home and would sneak out for work at night. As days passed, Gopal’s body started to decompose. Uma adorned his body with flowers and lights, turning his corpse into something resembling a divine idol.
How did Uma get rid of Gopal’s body?
Her neighbors grew curious with the constant bleating sound of goats and the stench from the corpse. Things got all the more complicated when Uma ended up killing her neighbor, who got a little too inquisitive. She chopped up her body and threw it in the woods and decided it was time to cremate Gopal. With the help of her new friends (a group of trans individuals who adored Uma), she managed to get the body out of her house, and she finally cremated him. The film took a spiritual turn when an ascetic walked up to Uma and rubbed her face with the ashes of her husband. He later helped her collect Gopal’s ashes, and they shared a moment of silence together.
Uma decided to walk home, or wherever the road led her, but she was too weak to continue. She collapsed on the road and was rescued by female Buddhist monks. They offered her food and a place to stay at the monastery. Uma declared that she didn’t believe in God, so she was not sure if it was the right place for her to stay. One of the monks stated that they had never believed in God, and that was why they’d become monks. It was almost a community of women who’d chosen monkhood to distance themselves from societal expectations and the fear of being hunted by men. They were searching for God through daily chores and meditations. They dressed Uma’s wounds, and she was ready to head home. By the time she reached her neighborhood, she saw men waiting for her outside her house with flaming torches in their hands. They broke her window and burned her house down. They assumed Uma was at home, but to their surprise a handful of birds flew out of her house instead.
Uma begged Sheetal for help, but she didn’t respond. She tried to find her at her house but ended up crossing paths with a police officer and a religious man. Uma surrendered, and the holy man attempted to cure her of her curse, but when he noticed an electric spark, he was too afraid to mess with her. They got on their knees and begged her forgiveness. Of course, the spark had nothing to do with Uma; it was just fate! But thanks to superstition, she was allowed to walk away. She was surprised when Sheetal and a few of her friends finally came to her rescue. They came in a car and handed Uma fresh clothes and other essentials she would need for the journey. As they were about to leave, the neighbors surrounded their car and threatened to execute Uma. But Uma had by then realized that while everyone wanted to kill her, they were essentially afraid of her, and she used the knowledge to her advantage. She got out of the car and dared the men to burn her down, but they were too afraid to act. She posed like a zombie, and they ran for their lives.
What does the final scene suggest?
During Sister Midnight’s ending, Sheetal dropped Uma off at the railway station, and she boarded the ‘Himalayan Express.’ When a passenger asked her what was wrong with her face, she boldly stated that she simply got a new face and walked away. As the film reached its magical and absurd climax, the protagonist also transformed herself completely. She’d been apprehensive about accepting her true identity, but after everything she’d been through, she realized she was done pleasing the world, and she would rather be a vampire/witch/monster than a human being. Uma broke free from societal expectations—she’d figured the world was too afraid of free individuals, and no one would ever dare mess with her. She draped herself in a black saree, painted her nails black, coated her lips with black lipstick, and flaunted her fangs. Her transformation was complete. The film ends on a comic note with the CGI goats following Uma’s train; there was no way she could escape her bizarre creation!
