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I recently watched Karan Kandhari’s new movie, “Sister Midnight,” at the Angelika Film Center in Northern Virginia. If you are just looking to watch a movie for pleasure and don’t want to think too hard, then you might as well stay home. But if you are like me and like to watch movies to help you think outside the box and challenge the “norm,” then you are in for a treat. The cinematography and soundtrack are amazing.
“Sister Midnight” is a story of a woman’s repression. It’s a story of a woman who is so angry that she doesn’t even identify as a human by the end. Uma’s story is a story of a woman’s transformation from human to something other than human. Uma represents all the repressed women of South Asia. All the women who have been lied to and were promised a different world. Uma is angry. Uma is filthy. Uma is vulgar. Uma is in all of us who reject to comply with societal norms.
Radhika Apte is great. She gives full justice to Uma, the main character. The movie doesn’t provide any details about Uma’s story before her marriage to Gopal. The only thing we learn is that she was labeled “crazy” and Gopal was supposedly her childhood sweetheart. Labeling someone “crazy” could mean anything but Kandhari is not being lazy here. Rather he is trying to disrupt how viewers code and see Uma. In the beginning, Uma might seem like a traditional woman who got married and is on her way to a happy life. But soon enough though, we find out that Uma is a rebel. It’s clear that Uma belongs to a lower socio-economic background yet she doesn’t know how to cook. Uma didn’t grow up surrounded by maids. She just didn’t want to follow rules.
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Regardless of her not following societal expectations, she appears ready to give patriarchy a try. After all, patriarchy promises to reward women who comply. But soon enough Uma figures out nothing has changed. Life was still shitty but now it was also lonely and boring.
Uma is also dealing with a stomach bug throughout the movie. Her stomach bug could be her repressed frustration and anger at life. She is so angry at life that she literally wants to suck the life of other living creatures. The first time we know she is turning into something more than a human was when she encounters a baby goat. The goat could represent courage and also transformation. Once she had the encounter with the goat, she had courage to kill other creatures. As her courage grew, more goats started following her. As she started killing more and more, her stomach started feeling better. This could be symbolic; as she is letting go of her anger, frustration and repression she begins feeling better.
Throughout the movie, we also see birds in and outside Uma’s apartment and pretty much wherever she goes. Sometimes, these birds would go through a transformation. This transformation can be compared to Uma’s own transformation. Uma not only transforms from human to vampire but also transforms from a girl in traditional clothes to a woman who doesn’t give a fuck about how she looks. The use of magical realism is not new to South Asian art, we have witnessed these in epic shows like Ramayana. This kind of use of magical realism can also be compared to the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Ashok Pathak plays Gopal, Uma’s new husband, brilliantly. Gopal is not a very adventurous guy and she was bored with him soon enough. He is intriguing and mysterious in different ways. It’s hard to be Gopal who has to put up with Uma’s repression and anger. Gopal is a boring, regular, poor working man of South Asia. His life hasn’t had much happening. We learn at his cousin’s wedding that no other girl wanted to marry him. Unfortunately, he gets married to Uma. His life would have been better off single. It was shocking to me how calm Gopal was after learning the truth about his wife’s transformation. He wasn’t even bothered that much. The important question is why did Gopal agree to die? He was worried about the pain but not about death. My theory is that he was also dealing with loneliness and frustrations with life. Just how easily he decided to die could be compared to how invaluable his life was. It really meant nothing even to him. One can’t help but feel sorry for the life Gopal is forced to live in a world that doesn’t see or recognize his pain. Uma’s new coworker comes looking for her when she doesn’t show up for work but no one comes to check in on Gopal. We also know that he drinks alone. This can be seen as a critique of capitalism and how Gopal was nothing more than an exploited laborer in a capitalist world. A worker no one missed. There are differences between how Gopal dealt with his frustration and Uma. Gopal withdraws from life. Uma transforms. Was Gopal lonelier than Uma? Gopal had been living and working in the city longer than Uma had but he doesn’t appear to have any real friends. He hangs out with a coworker at the beach but it feels forced. It doesn’t look genuine like the friendship Uma shares with Sheetal, their next-door neighbor.
As usual, Chhaya Kadam is a treat to watch. I am absolutely here for it. Uma’s relationship with Sheetal is a beautiful feminist space: an oasis in the midst of poverty, anger, loneliness and frustration. Sheetal and Uma have created this safe space where they can be weird, funny, angry and also look out for each other. Sheetal literally saves Uma. Their friendship is so strong.
It is a little weird to see a South Asian vampire. I have always imagined vampires to be white. This alone disrupted my thought process. It could be that I don’t watch enough vampire movies to see diversity. Regardless, it was quite amusing to see a South Asian woman vampire in the streets of India carrying a bucket and a mop.
It's hard to know how to react to Uma’s transformation. Sometimes she is so innocent, you feel sorry for her. Sometimes she is so right that you want to side with her. Sometimes, she is so wrong that it feels immoral to support her. Whatever it is, I supported Uma throughout the movie. For the moment she walked in the room with Gopal for the first time, I knew Uma and I could get along. I am with Uma. But are you ready to support her all the way through? You will just have to watch the movie to find out whether you can support Uma. And, if so, to what point are you with her?
