Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight premiered at Cannes earlier this year with a positive response. It is Kandhari’s debut feature film and follows the story of an arranged marriage in Mumbai. Protagonist Uma turns ruthless, to fight against the rules set upon her. 

Kandhari spoke about Uma’s character in the film: “One of the first things [Radhika Apte, who plays Uma] said to me was, ‘I don’t see this as a film [where] we’re trying to beat a message over anyone’s head.’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely, that’s not even how I think.’” 

Uma is portrayed as a powerful woman, who follows her impulses after dealing with her arranged marriage. Kandhari chose to use little dialogue to fully show how Uma’s instincts took control of her body. 

In the film, Uma’s body rebels against her new life. She becomes sick, and the doctor dismisses the severity of her condition. However, when all she wants to eat is live goats and birds, it becomes apparent that there is something more grave going on.

Kandhari and Apte developed Uma’s backstory together: “We developed a sort of secret language as we were doing it, like we’d have strange phrases and words that nobody else understood what was going on,” Kandhari stated. “Because the character, she’s very fully formed in her behavior, and I’m interested in behavior specifically. So once we nailed down who she was and her behavior, within that sort of framework we knew how to tap into certain parts of her. And that’s when we built up the language between us, and we could easily, with a little phrase, know what was going on with her.” 

He followed up by saying, “Once you can eliminate the words in your collaborator’s and your own mind, and if you know your intention, then you can get to the truth.”

Sister Midnight has an astounding soundtrack including music from the 1960’s Cambodian soul era, Howlin’ Wolf and the Stooges, and original tracks by Interpol’s Paul Banks that help bring Uma’s story to life.

Magnet Releasing has U.S. rights to Sister Midnight.