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The Hindu
43 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Sister Midnight' movie review: Radhika Apte elevates this punk black comedy
At first glance, Sister Midnight, Karan Kandhari's morbidly funny debut feature, looks like a static portrait of marital inertia. There's a new bride pouting in a Mumbai chawl, slumped under the weight of expectations and boredom. The frequently immobile camera watches as Radhika Apte's Uma shuffles around her one-room box of a home, staring into the infinity of its walls. For a while, that's about it. Just a slow-motion descent into the slow cooker of domestic life that's almost aggressively mundane. But the trick of Sister Midnight is that this banality is the bait, and soon enough the hook reveals itself. Beneath the macabre sitcom setup and the Wes Anderson-like symmetry, there's something far stranger going on. Uma chances upon a goat, dead birds begin to accumulate, but at least her fever has subsided. Having begun the film as a grumpy wife, Uma starts to mutate into something else entirely. Kandhari, who is Indian by origin but London-based, channels a particularly diasporic vision of Mumbai that's intimate, but also quite surreal. The film's chawl setting is crammed with gossiping aunties and open windows and often feels claustrophobic, but also buzzes with a foreboding menace. Cinematographer Sverre Sordal lights these back alleys like dream sequences. Drab fluorescent interiors clash with sinister noirish shadows, and everything looks just slightly off. Much of the movie rests on Apte's shoulders, and she carries it like a woman hauling centuries of baggage. Uma sulks, spits, stomps, slouches, and seethes. Her barbs feel militant, and even her silences throb with insult. There's barely any exposition, but Apte and Kandhari give us all we need from a single glance on her hostage-sequence-like wedding night, to her soft-spoken husband's polite refusals for any semblance of intimacy. Sister Midnight (Hindi) Director: Karan Kandhari Cast: Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak, Chhaya Kadam, Smita Tambe, Subhash Chandra Runtime: 110 minutes Storyline: In Mumbai, an arranged marriage spirals into darkness as the spineless husband watches his wife morph into a ruthless, feral force The genre gradually slides out from under the bed. The first half is kitchen sink absurdism, while the second has a fable-like feel to it. Kandhari doesn't make the transition seamless, but he makes it feel earned. The bratty interloper in Uma soon grows into something more mythic. Her transformation into a symbolic stand-in for Kali is teased through colour, gesture, and ritual. Her face even glows blue at just the right moment, and one character even remarks she's 'looking a bit more kali today,' with just the right weight that pun deserves. The film is peppered with delightful digressions like a Kurosawa parody playing on a teahouse television, a band of helpful trans women offering some chai and a shoulder, and a sombre lift operator who seems to be Uma's only emotional peer. Kandhari never quite ties these threads into a cohesive tapestry, but that's part of the point. His world is stitched together from the freakish leftovers of society. Kandhari's flirtations with vampire mythology are quite provocative and fun to witness. With its jarring edits, brash needle-drops, and near-expressionist lighting, the film channels a feral, Jaramuschian brand of punk, using the undead as metaphors for the unkillable rage of a woman who's had enough. However, Sister Midnight does sometimes lose control of its tone. The slapstick rhythms of its jump cuts, whip pans and sound gags begin to feel mechanised by the one-hour mark, and its tight visual language also becomes something of a constraint, as though the story is trying to scream through a very tiny symmetrical window. Sister Midnight is not a tidy film, and often lacks consistency. But it's thrillingly alive, especially in how it weaponises discomfort and turns the Yellow Wallpaper-trope of the neglected housewife into something folkloric. Kandhari's instincts occasionally betray him when he throws in a few too many motifs without always knowing where they land, but he's unmistakably a filmmaker with a vision, and a wicked sense of humour. Sister Midnight is currently running in theatres
Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Sister Midnight Movie Review: Amid the chaos of a surreal, plotless experiment, Radhika Apte stands tall
Story: Uma, a headstrong small-town woman, moves to Mumbai after an arranged marriage but feels out of place. Restless and trapped, she undergoes a wild transformation that breaks society's rules. Review: 'Sister Midnight' is one of those films that's hard to describe without resorting to words like 'bizarre,' 'surreal,' or simply 'what did I just watch?' From the very first frame, it throws you into a world that's chaotic, wild, and often confounding. On the surface, it's about a newlywed woman battling loneliness and frustration—but any attempt to explain the plot beyond that feels futile. This Radhika Apte-led British production is less interested in telling a story and more in creating an experience—one that's metaphor-heavy and deliberately unsettling. There are moments in the film that really grab you—strange little scenes that linger in the mind—but trying to piece them together into a coherent whole is a losing game. It's clearly an experimental film, packed with long, static shots and an almost maddening sense of stillness that dares you to stay with it. If you're someone who enjoys decoding metaphor and swimming through ambiguity, there's something here for you. If you're after a narrative that makes sense from start to finish, you might struggle. The story follows Uma (Radhika Apte), a new bride who moves into her husband Gopal's (Ashok Pathak) cramped home in a slum. She's temperamental, clueless about running a household, loves smoking, and speaks to her husband mostly in commands. Her only real support is a kind neighbour. Eventually, boredom pushes her into taking a cleaning job, which is when things start to spiral. She kills a goat and dumps it in a pile of trash. Then, it's birds. Later, during an awkward attempt at intimacy, her husband dies—and she casually keeps the corpse in the house. The events become increasingly surreal: a visit to a monastery, a train journey, and finally, a strange chase scene involving goats. It's dreamlike, absurd, and tough to pin down. The one thing that keeps it all from collapsing is Radhika Apte. She's in practically every frame and is terrific—layered, unpredictable, and completely convincing as a woman gradually losing her grip. Her performance gives the film a strange sort of grounding. Ashok Pathak plays her husband with a quiet, believable helplessness and proves once again that he's an actor to watch. Chhaya Kadam, in a brief role as the neighbour, is understated and effective. Tonally, the film sits somewhere between black comedy and fever dream. There's a certain reckless energy in how it moves—from one weird scene to the next—that keeps you watching, even if you're not always sure why. The cinematography is striking and helps build a mood that's equal parts grimy and hypnotic. But there's no getting around the fact that much of it is repetitive and, at times, exhausting. The use of foreign music tracks might come across as inventive, but their relevance is often hard to figure out. Ditto for a scene from 'The Seven Samurai' playing on TV at a chai shop—interesting, yes, but what's the point? At its core, 'Sister Midnight' doesn't follow a traditional plot structure. It thrives on moments, mood, and metaphor. If you like your cinema strange and symbolic, it has something to offer. But if you're looking for a clear beginning, middle, and end, this one might just leave you bewildered.
News18
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Sister Midnight Review: Radhika Apte Will Suck You Into This Dark Comedy, Literally!
Last Updated: Sister Midnight Review: Radhika Apte owns and shoulders Karan Kandhari's directorial debut Sister Midnight beautifully. Sister Midnight Review: Dark comedy, feminist satire, surreal horror and some genre-defying character portrayal by Radhika Apte is what makes Karan Kandhari's directorial debut a film to watch. Sister Midnight, which premiered at Cannes 2024, has finally found some limited release in India. As you walk into relatively empty theatres, take a seat, grab your popcorn tub and sip on your choice of some beverage, because, Radhika Apte is going to transcend you into her world where she is a total mess trying to figure out her own tribe and mould her personality rather than just fitting into a society. It all begins when Uma, played by Apte, who is married to Gopal (played by Ashok Pathak), and travelling in a train to Mumbai. On a personal level, I could connect with Uma's version of Mumbai because the filming of the movie was done across the streets of my neighbourhood here in the city. However, Apte from the word go, is on her toes and is exploring this alien space and locality by herself. Though her marriage with Gopal is as terrible as it could get, she befriends Sheetal (played by Chhaya Kadam). Sheetal tries to teach her the nuances of running a house and cooking, but none of this domestic and daily life hustle impresses Uma. She voices out her opinions to everyone, even to Gopal, who is somewhere scared to talk to Uma because of her eccentric behaviour. Uma tries her best to find her footing and fit within the conventional norms of society, but just cannot get herself to live the way society demands her to survive. Nevertheless, things take a bizarre turn at a family event, and nothing remains the same after that. This is where Kandhari decides to take things to another level and makes this chirpy comedy-drama into something so dark that you will eventually feel what you just watched! Without trying to give out much of the plot of the film, it is safe to state that Uma finally finds herself in a situation where she is discovering something new within her, and is clueless about things happening to her. Eventually, she understands her cravings and decides to act on them. All of this journey, or self-exploration and discovering the truth about her being the way she is, unfolds in such darker circumstances that you cannot watch it without getting multiple goose bumps. Though there are other characters, this 107-minute-long film revolves around Apte and her journey. Overall, the movie has a good mix of humour, a strong message about how to find your own self, and most importantly, it teaches you that it is okay to be a misfit if you fall in love with who you are as a person. First Published: May 31, 2025, 07:17 IST
India Gazette
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- India Gazette
Radhika Apte opens up about her motherhood journey, says she was prepared for
New Delhi [India], May 30 (ANI): Actor Radhika Apte, who welcomed her child in December last year with husband, musician Benedict Taylor, recently opened up about the emotional highs and lows that followed the birth of their baby. In a candid conversation with ANI, Radhika shared that she had mentally prepared herself for 'postpartum.' The actress also shared that she had spoken to her close ones beforehand, just in case she needed support. 'I was very prepared for postpartum, actually. And I had also made sure that my friends and family were aware that if I went into postpartum depression, they needed to support me. To my own surprise, I was just purely elated when I had a child. And fortunately, I didn't suffer from severe depression at any point,' she said. However, Apte didn't shy away from sharing the tough parts, too and spoke about the emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a new parent. 'But a child, it's so difficult to look after a child 24/7. It's such a huge change in your life that there are many days and moments of feeling terribly low and lost, as well as feeling elated and in love with your child. There are moments when you have no idea what you think, and you feel emotionally quite tired and low,' she added. 'Also, sleep deprivation doesn't help with that. So, it's a constant up and down, I think, this new journey. And it's very, very natural and normal to feel that way,' the actress further said. On the work front, Radhika's latest film 'Sister Midnight' hit Indian theatres on May 30. The film, a dark comedy filled with punk energy, was earlier screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. Radhika is seen playing the role of Uma, a bold and rebellious woman who challenges societal norms, especially those around arranged marriage. Speaking about the character, Radhika said Uma may seem wild but is deeply relatable. 'I mean, I don't think she's a very, very different character from Indian women. In fact, I think that I've seen a lot of Indian women with the same amount of... Basically, she's quite feral. And I've seen a lot of women like that,' she shared. Sister Midnight is Karan Kandhari's directorial debut. (ANI)
India Gazette
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- India Gazette
"There are many moments of feeling terribly low, lost": Radhika Apte on motherhood, says she was prepared for "postpartum depression"
By Zoya Aziz New Delhi [India], May 30 (ANI): Actor Radhika Apte, who welcomed her child in December last year with husband, musician Benedict Taylor, recently opened up about the emotional highs and lows that followed the birth of their baby. In a candid conversation with ANI, Radhika shared that she had mentally prepared herself for 'postpartum.' The actress also shared that she had spoken to her close ones beforehand, just in case she needed support. 'I was very prepared for postpartum, actually. And I had also made sure that my friends and family were aware that if I went into postpartum depression, they needed to support me. To my own surprise, I was just purely elated when I had a child. And fortunately, I didn't suffer from severe depression at any point,' she said. However, Apte didn't shy away from sharing the tough parts, too and spoke about the emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a new parent. 'But a child, it's so difficult to look after a child 24/7. It's such a huge change in your life that there are many days and moments of feeling terribly low and lost, as well as feeling elated and in love with your child. There are moments when you have no idea what you think, and you feel emotionally quite tired and low,' she added. 'Also, sleep deprivation doesn't help with that. So, it's a constant up and down, I think, this new journey. And it's very, very natural and normal to feel that way,' the actress further said. On the work front, Radhika's latest film 'Sister Midnight' hit Indian theatres on May 30. The film, a dark comedy filled with punk energy, was earlier screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. Radhika is seen playing the role of Uma, a bold and rebellious woman who challenges societal norms, especially those around arranged marriage. Speaking about the character, Radhika said Uma may seem wild but is deeply relatable. 'I mean, I don't think she's a very, very different character from Indian women. In fact, I think that I've seen a lot of Indian women with the same amount of... Basically, she's quite feral. And I've seen a lot of women like that,' she shared. Sister Midnight is Karan Kandhari's directorial debut. (ANI)
