Sister Midnight

Did a movie ever drive you crazy? A movie can make you feel happy, sad, scared, horrified, enlightened or wise; but what if a movie pulls down the wall between sanity and insanity! I went through such a train of thought when I watched the movie SISTER MIDNIGHT.

What kept me hooked to the movie till the end was its bizzare storyline, the dynamic characterization of Uma played by Radhika Apte, balanced by the flatness of Gopal's character beautifully depicted by Ashok Pathak.

Why must a sweeper carry her mop and bucket to and from her office daily, holding her mop like a trophy? Is it not ridiculous? Why should someone, who makes a mess of her household boast ' I am the Goddess of cleanliness '

There was however something about the movie which would not let me get it out of my mind. So I revisited the movie on Jio Hotstar. It was then I realised that the film has a deep metaphorical significance. Sister Midnight is the story of Uma's quest for 'romance, adventure , excitement' in her drab life.

Uma is newly married. The film begins with her coming to Mumbai in her bridal adornment. She lives in a slum with her husband. The city is chaotic. On her very first morning in Mumbai, we see her closing the door of her one roomed shanty on the noise of the city in disgust.

The small enclosure of her shanty makes her feel breathless and she often sits in the open just outside her door, on the street , to escape the gloom of her shanty.

She is not happy in her conjugal life . Her husband is timid, impassive, nonchalant , alcoholic. Her marriage is not consummated. She tries to befriend her husband, form an emotional bonding with him, but her husband would not reciprocate. She calls herself a ' sad woman '.

Uma becomes a rebel. She revolts by going against the norms of the society. She proclaims her liberty by breaking her CHURA (bangles) - an act which is considered inauspicious by the society.

She makes a cobbler break the bangles signifying that it is not easy to come out of a relationship mentally, especially with someone she had loved since her childhood. She is a bold woman.

Next she tries to bring ' romance, adventure , excitement ' into her drab life through engagement in some paid job. She gets the job of a sweeper in a shipping company , but life does not become exciting. Monotony , the feeling of loneliness , the absence of the feeling of belongingness , which lies hidden beneath the glitz and glamour of city life, does not leave her.

The jhadu- balti ( broom - bucket) scene which had appeared so ludicrous to me , is actually a symbolic representation of the monotony in the life of Uma and many others in the city she has known - like her neighbour, Sheetal; the liftman; the transgender women she had befriended ; Gopal .

 

Her broom and bucket are akin to files. Uma carries her files to the office, she is busy with her files thereat, and brings those home, only to carry those to the office the next day. Thus, the second innings of Uma's life is also dull , colourless and monotonous.

Uma had always been hyperactive to the extent that she appears eccentric to her husband, her neighbours and even to us . Her village folks used to consider her 'Pagal'. This gutsy woman is now exhausted . The trials and tribulations of life has exhausted her. She grows pale day by day. Her pallor is symbolic of her emotional drainage.

The movie takes a horrid turn in its second part, giving the movie the tag of a horror film.

Gradually a psychological disorder arises in Uma which might be Renfield's syndrome , in which she feels the compulsion to drink animal blood. Blood gives her sensual pleasure, excitement and vitality . She gets hallucinations.

She accidentally kills her husband, ironically, when the two were developing friendship The pain she feels at the loss of her husband makes her hold on to her husband by keeping his dead body to herself, unless the body has started decaying .

 The audience cannot feel anything but sympathy for her when they see her missing Gopal. She wears Gopal's clothes, thinks about him dolefully, visits a certain bar where Gopal went almost daily, at the tea stall drinks tea simultaneously from two glasses as if she was having tea with Gopal.

We adore her when the feeling of guilt preys on her consciousness whenever she has killed an animal for blood or when we see her desperately fighting against her demonic urge . Finally she fights the demon in her and gradually overcomes her blood - thirst .

She becomes calm after she has cremated her dead husband. - as if the fire at the pyre has consumed her rage. Her spiritual transformation has been subtly conveyed by the filmmaker through the imagery of a Buddhist Monastery which is being freshly painted.

In the end Uma leaves for a new place on a train to start her life anew. But, will her past leave her? Has she really succeeded in eradicating the devil in her completely ? Do her canine teeth not look sharper? Uma gazes upon the demonic goats coming after her with surprise and disgust. The movie ends with Uma's expression - as if she were cursing the goats, saying, 'how the hell do I get rid of you'?

Midnight is often associated with mystery. Uma, by the end of the movie has evolved into a mysterious character. She has shades of good and evil, anger and calm, ruthlessness and compassion. The British - Indian director -writer- filmmaker karan kandhari thus has rightly christened Uma as Sister Midnight. Perhaps here the film maker has a message for us - both the god and the devil dwell in us. It is up to us to decide what to become.

There is a theme of universality in the film. A bus full of women having similar chudas are shown shaking their chudas vigorously to break out of their churas, signifying unhappy marriage. The liftman says - ‘ab adat par gayi hei’ that is, the pain of (humdrum routine ) has now become a habit

The first part of the movie shows Uma's inner turmoil through her strides, strolls and sprints. The second part shows her state of mind through surrealistic images like flying birds( perhaps signifying her strong desire for freedom), scurrying mouse(perhaps signifying anxiety that soon she would have to do away with the corpse since it was decaying ), pulling at a herd of bleating goats to oust them from her home (perhaps it signified her intense moral struggle to restrain herself from feeding on animal blood), goats running after scurrying mouse and munching dead bodies ( here goats represent the devil)

The film is of the genre called absurdist cinema. The movie lacks in dialogues and words. Except for some succinct or abrupt dialogues, the movie mainly depends on body language and facial expressions for its development . Rock and Pop songs from the soundtracks of composer - singers like Paul Banks, lggy Pop, Sinn Sisamouth and the like , help to build up the narrative.

If it is entertainment one is looking for in a movie, the film is not for you. It is a serious cinema .

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