We interview star Radhika Apte about Sister Midnight, her character Uma, her experience on set, and how she worked on the comedic side of the movie.
Directed by British Indian director Karan Kandhari, Sister Midnight features Radhika Apte in the main role of Uma, a clever and quirky young woman who dares to break traditional and gender conventions. When the film starts, Uma is expected to take on the role of the wife in her arranged marriage with Gopal (Ashok Pathak), which involves staying at home, looking after their house, and cooking for her husband. Despite her willingness to learn all of this, Uma quickly becomes frustrated with the life she is forced into and desperate to escape it. Sister Midnight had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 and was later presented at the BFI London Film Festival as well. Ahead of its wider release in the UK, we sat down with Radhika Apte for an interview about her lead role in this visionary film.
Radhika Apte on what drew her to Sister Midnight
How did you first become involved in the project, and what specifically drew you to Sister Midnight?
Radhika Apte: Karan approached me for this film about seven or eight years ago. I instantly said yes because I really loved the script, the characters, and the world that he created. I thought it was a crazy script and that it was the kind of film that could have gone either way: it could have been a very cool movie or a disaster. That was the great challenge in Sister Midnight. It was a part that I could not even have dreamt of: I would never have been able to imagine this in my dreams. It was that bonkers, and I really loved the humour in it as well.
The comedy aspect of Sister Midnight and Radhika Apte’s experience on set
The humour is such a key feature of Sister Midnight. Some of the story can be quite dramatic, but the film always goes back to this humour and I remember everyone was laughing in the cinema at my screening. Was it ever challenging for you to find this in a relatively sad story?
Radhika Apte: Sister Midnight is a very dark film actually, but it is also very funny, so it is light and heavy at the same time. We did a lot of rehearsals because we really had to find the body language and work through the script. A lot of the scenes are silent, so we had to find a rhythm to them, and the physical comedy through the rehearsals. That was the best part about it because, as an actor, you rarely get to do silent scenes like this, and I love it.
Since we talked about the humour and comedy of Sister Midnight, how was the atmosphere on set ?
R. A.: There weren’t really many funny moments because it was quite an intense set, as we had so much to film. We were only shooting on film as well we shot in Bombay, so it was very much back-to-back and we could not waste any time. The cinematographer was excellent and we worked very fast, so Sister Midnight was a nonstop filming process. I remember the last day when we finished and everyone went home, I felt like something had just happened… like there had been a big blast, and then everything evaporated. We had a lot of fun, obviously, but overall it was a very intense process.
What was the hardest part for you in filming Sister Midnight?
R. A.: Night shoots. There was a time when I was younger when I loved night shoots because they were very romantic to me. I hate night shoots now; I like to go to bed at 10 o’clock. We had so many night shoots, my goddess; that was definitely the hardest part for me.
Radhika Apte on working with the other actors and the director when filming Sister Midnight
I also wanted to ask about your collaboration with the other actors, because your character interacts with many people. Can you tell me a little bit about how you worked on the relationships that Uma builds throughout Sister Midnight?
Radhika Apte: That was really fun, actually! Again, we had a lot of rehearsals and it was very funny already in the rehearsals.
Karan and I were rehearsing for a couple of weeks before the other actors came in. I had to take a couple of days to understand what he wanted because it was very different from what I had done before. He just wanted us to stop thinking about not intellectualising any of it. The impulse of the characters was always coming through the body, and it took me a couple of days to get that in my head.
When they joined us, all the actors used to come to me and say, “What are we doing? What is this?” And then, when they found what Karan wanted, they really loved it, and we could explore the comedy together. We had a lot of fun; the actors were all so fantastic and we built really interesting and genuine relationships.
Your collaboration with Karan is also fascinating, because it feels like you both brought a lot to this film. You did mention some of this, but how did you work together on the character and during the filming of Sister Midnight?
R. A.: He just had a very very specific idea and was very clear about everything. He had written the script in English at first and had this very specific rhythm to the dialogue in mind. So when it was translated into Hindi, he wanted to retain that rhythm. But when you translate something into a different language, you adapt it, right? So there were so many times when the sentences didn’t make grammatical sense, but he wanted them to be spoken that way. We were not allowed to change a single word, there was nothing improvised in terms of dialogue and everything is exactly what is scripted. Sometimes things changed during rehearsals, but it was never like on-the-spot improvisation.
For the silent scenes, we worked on it beat by beat. Karan was very particular about how he wanted it to be which is very exciting and challenging at the same time. But I really enjoyed it because I had never worked like this before. The whole non-intellectualising process when working on a character was brand new for me and very refreshing.
Radhika Apte on Uma, her character in the film
Uma is a very complex character and we find out more and more about her as Sister Midnight goes on. Was there something specifically about her that spoke to you when you read the script and how did you approach the character when you prepared for the role?
Radhika Apte: I think the fact that she’s got this child in her that’s still alive was the most attractive thing about the character for me. She is so innocent and she is put in a very hard situation, but she looks at it with fresh eyes. And she doesn’t know what to do: there is no manual on how to do it or what to do. She asks questions and doesn’t just do things because people tell her to do them or there is a certain expectation of her from society. I think that was the most attractive part for me, because I hope we all retain that. I think the fact that nobody asks questions is the problem with society today: people blindly support things without really asking what those things mean.
She also breaks away from expectations and traditional roles that don’t entirely work for her. How important was it to show a female character who chooses a different type of life?
R. A.: I don’t necessarily choose work to be different or to portray an unconventional character. I just choose parts if I find them fascinating: that is why I chose to do this film. I do tend to choose less conventional parts because otherwise, I would find them boring.
What Radhika Apte hopes audiences get from Sister Midnight and her future projects after this film
Sister Midnight is about to come out in the UK. What do you hope audiences get when they walk out of the cinema?
Radhika Apte: I hope they are entertained. That is what films do: they transport you to a different universe. I don’t think anybody is going to walk into the cinema with the same expectations and they will not come out thinking the same thing about the film. They are all probably going to get something different from Sister Midnight. It is quite interesting to see what they will come up with, actually, because this film could be interpreted in many different ways.
Do you have any projects you can talk about that we might see in the future?
R. A.: I worked on another film called Last Days of John Allen Chau that I did with Justin Lin and that is coming out this year. I have a Netflix show in India as well and a film in India that is going to be released this year. And then there are a few projects in the pipeline for the future.
Thank you for talking to us!
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Sister Midnight will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on March 14, 2025. The film will open in US theaters on May 16. Read our review of Sister Midnight!
