‘It’s
such
a
mishmash
of
wonderful
things,
so
many
different
cultures,
subsections
of
society
and
weird
histories.’
Boys
with
their
faces
painted
in
silver
during
Holi
celebrations
in
Mumbai,
March
25,
2024.
Kindly
note
the
image
has
only
been
posted
for
representational
purposes.
Photograph:
Hemanshi
Kamani/Reuters
UK-based
artist-turned-film-maker
Karan
Kandhari
was
one
of
the
first-time
directors
celebrated
at
the
recent
Cannes
Film
Festival.
His
film
Sister
Midnight,
starring
Radhika
Apte,
opened
in
the
festival’s
Directors’
Fortnight
sidebar.
In
Sister
Midnight,
a
quirky,
at
times
deliciously
funny
and
dark
comedy,
Apte
plays
Uma,
a
newly-married
bride
who
moves
to
Mumbai
to
live
with
her
husband
Gopal
(Ashok
Pathak)
in
a
small
room
by
the
side
of
the
road.
The
marriage
is
in
trouble
from
the
beginning.
Uma
knows
nothing
about
maintaining
a
home
or
cooking.
The
husband
is
almost
always
drunk
and
afraid
of
initiating
sex.
As
time
passes,
Uma
reveals
her
dark
desires
which
give
the
film
a
wildly
crazy
twist.
Apte
is
a
delight
to
watch
in
the
film.
Screen
Daily
referred
to
Apte
as
‘sensational’
in
its
review
of
the
film.
Born
in
Kuwait
and
educated
in
the
UK,
Kandhari
uses
an
eclectic
mix
of
world
music
in
the
film,
including
Cambodian
songs
from
the
1960s.
In
another
unconventional
film-making
style,
he
marries
live-action
with
stop-motion
puppets
used
for
animals.
While
Sister
Midnight
has
one
Indian
producer
on
board,
Alex
McAlex
(Kila),
and
the
Amazon
Prime
Web
series
Poacher),
the
film
is
mostly
funded
by
Film4
and
the
BFI.
Recently,
Anurag
Kashyap
and
Resul
Pookutty
pointed
out
that
nearly
all
the
Indian
films
that
played
at
Cannes
this
year,
including
the
Grand
Prix
winner
All
We
Imagine
As
Light,
were
funded
from
outside
the
country.
The
Indian
government
and
film
production
houses
gave
no
support
to
these
films.
Aseem
Chhabra
spoke
to
Kandhari
a
day
after
the
film’s
premiere
at
Cannes,
and
there
were
two
things
he
mentioned
before
the
interview:
“Please
be
gentle
with
me”
and
“I
am
a
little
hungover
from
last
night.”
He
added:
“I
don’t
live
in
India.
The
film
happened
to
be
set
there.
I
am
obviously
Indian
but
I
don’t
know
much
about
the
industry
there
or
anything.
So
I
am
a
bit
of
an
outsider.”
Radhika
Apte
in
Sister
Midnight.
Karan,
even
as
an
outsider,
the
film
gives
a
feeling
that
you
have
a
keen
sense
of
life
in
Mumbai.
I
visited
Bombay
about
20
years
ago,
just
after
art
school.
I
didn’t
really
know
the
city.
It
has
an
intoxicating
personality.
It’s
such
a
mishmash
of
wonderful
things,
so
many
different
cultures,
subsections
of
society
and
weird
histories.
All
these
things
clashing
with
each
other
that
somehow
it
works.
I
was
not
being
able
to
get
the
city
out
of
my
head.
That
was
the
initial
seed
for
the
film.
The
character
then
came
to
me
but
then
it
took
another
10
years
before
that
sort
of
wordless
moment
pops
in
your
head.
And
then,
it
took
another
10
years
to
get
the
film
made.
Radhika
Apte
on
the
sets
of
Sister
Midnight.
Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Radhika
Apte/Instagram
Can
you
talk
about
casting
Radhika
Apte?
She’s
amazing
in
the
film
and
I
have
never
seen
her
this
animated,
this
much
fun.
She’s
doing
comedy,
but
it’s
not
laugh-out-loud
kind
of
comedy.
How
did
you
direct
her?
I
was
struggling
for
five
years
to
find
the
right
actor.
I
tried
to
look
at
films
and
TV
shows
to
see
who
could
do
the
role
of
Uma.
I
couldn’t
find
anyone,
until
someone
suggested
I
should
meet
Radhika
Apte.
So
I
checked
a
clip
and
as
I
was
watching
it,
I
was
like,
‘Oh
my
God,
this
woman
is
fearless.’
I
didn’t
look
at
anything
else.
I
was
already
sold
and
based
on
that,
we
sent
her
the
script.
I
was
a
little
nervous
when
I
went
to
meet
her
because
if
she
had
said
no,
I
don’t
think
I
could
have
made
the
film.
She
was
talking
about
stuff,
all
the
things
she
was
doing.
She
was
scuba
diving
at
that
time.
Then
she
just
said,
‘Yeah,
I
loved
it.
I
want
to
do
it.’
So
she
was
attached
to
the
film
for
five
years
and
we
got
to
know
each
other.
We
would
talk
around
the
film
because
many
times,
it
was
about
to
get
made
and
then
it
got
delayed.
When
it
got
to
actually
doing
the
film,
we
did
a
lot
of
rehearsals.
It
started
with
just
Radhika
and
me.
She’s
obviously
a
prolific
performer
and
has
her
own
process.
She
has
a
very
clear
idea
of
how
to
work.
Her
approach
was
very
intellectual,
while
I
was
trying
to
get
her
to
be
in
the
present
because
the
film
is
very
behavioral
and
has
its
own
strange
rhythm.
Once
she
got
it,
she
said,
‘My
God,
I
have
never
acted
like
this.’
Radhika
was
so
trusting,
fearless
and
willing
to
be
as
silly
as
the
film
needed
her
to
be.
Was
it
difficult
for
Radhika
since
she
has
very
few
dialogues?
For
Radhika,
it
was
very
liberating.
The
role
is
made
for
her.
Radhika
Apte
and
Ashok
Pathak
in
Sister
Midnight.
What
about
your
other
cast
members?
I
know
you
worked
with
Dilip
Shankar
for
casting.
But
how
did
you
find
the
supporting
cast,
especially
Smita
Tambe,
Chhaya
Kadam
(both
play
Uma’s
neighbours)
and
Ashok
Pathak?
I
call
Dilip,
Detective
Shankar,
because
he
works
like
a
detective.
I
was
looking
for
actors
who
could
leave
their
intellect
at
the
door
and
crawl
into
my
strange
way
of
doing
things.
So
we
saw
lots
of
people.
It
was
a
drawn-out
audition
process,
working
through
scenes
together
and
trying
to
find
actors
who
could
slip
into
that
humour
and
rhythm
because
it
is
a
strange
way
to
perform
and
not
everyone
is
going
to
click
into
it.
Tell
us
about
the
music
you
selected
for
the
film.
I
have
an
amazing
music
supervisor
who’s
worked
with
me
since
my
shorts.
She’s
my
secret
weapon.
Her
name
is
Chloe
Savage.
I
don’t
have
an
intellectual
answer
for
the
choice
of
music.
It
was
literally
in
my
head
as
I
was
writing
the
film.
So
we
pre-cleared
everything.
I
think
the
best
way
I
can
describe
the
music
is
there
is
a
playfulness
in
the
way
we
juxtaposed
things
—
listening
to
Motorhead
while
Uma
is
running
down
a
shack,
or
towards
the
end
of
the
film,
cutting
to
the
Buddhist
monastery
with
nuns
and
you
have
a
Marty
Robbins
cowboy
ballad
playing.
It
just
felt
right.
Also,
it
wasn’t
a
conscious
decision
but
we
don’t
use
any
Indian
music.
I
was
listening
to
this
beautiful
Cambodian
soul
music
from
the
1960s
which
to
me,
shared
a
similar
vocal
style
to
Indian
music.
The
film,
in
a
sense,
is
a
weird
cultural
collage.
It’s
interesting
when
you
said
there
is
no
Indian
music.
It
just
felt
right.
The
Cambodian
stuff,
when
it
plays
in
the
West
and
people
can’t
identify
it,
because
all
of
this
culture
belongs
to
the
world.
Why
not
mix
it
up?
Karan
Kandhari
directs
Radhika
Apte
and
Ashok
Pathak
on
the
sets
of
Sister
Midnight.
Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Radhika
Apte/Instagram
Was
the
animation
there
from
the
beginning?
It
was
always
in
my
mind
that
the
animals
should
not
be
real.
I
wanted
something
that
was
slightly
askew.
Stop
motion
animation
inherently
has
that
quality,
so
you
don’t
need
to
push
it.
Also,
I
am
not
a
fan
of
things
done
digitally.
A
lot
of
the
film
is
handmade
and
you
can’t
fake
light-hitting
physical
fur
or
feathers.
So
it
was
very
important
to
have
that
tangible
quality.
What
I
like
about
the
film
is
that
while
it
is
set
in
India
and
the
actors
are
Indian,
it
is
not
an
Indian
film.
The
ethos
and
the
mood
is
from
everywhere.
I
am
Indian
but
I
think
it’s
restrictive
to
say
you
are
an
Indian
film-maker
or
a
UK
film-maker.
This
is
the
only
other
story
I
have
in
India.
The
next
one
is
about
a
woman
from
North
Shields,
and
it’s
partially
set
in
Stavanger
and
Bergen
(both
in
Norway),
and
then
in
Berlin.
That
is
all
I
can
say.
I
can
tell
you
what
it’s
called
because
I
only
seem
to
be
able
to
think
of
movie
titles
that
are
based
on
Iggy
Pop
songs.
Sister
Midnight
is
named
after
an
Iggy
Pop
song,
and
the
next
is
called
A
Heartful
of
Napalm
which
comes
from
the
Stooges
and
Iggy
Pop
lyrics
for
the
song
Search
And
Destroy.
(I’m
a
streetwalking
cheetah
with
a
heartful
of
napalm/I’m
a
runaway
son
of
the
nuclear
A-bomb).
Director
Karan
Kandhari.
Photograph:
Aseem
Chhabra
Why
Iggy
Pop?
He’s
my
hero.
I
listen
to
a
lot
of
music
as
I
am
writing.
It’s
not
necessary
that
music
makes
it
into
the
film.
I
was
also
listening
to
Leonard
Cohen
and
Patti
Smith.
And
a
lot
of
Bob
Dylan.
There’s
a
sequence
towards
the
end
of
film,
when
Radhika’s
character
is
being
hunted
by
a
mob.
She
jumps
off
the
roof
and
this
lightning
strikes.
A
couple
of
minutes
later,
two
electricians
cut
the
wires
the
wrong
way.
They
think
she
is
a
goddess.
That
came
from
Bob
Dylan
song
called
Drifter’s
Escape
and
it
goes:
Just
then
a
bolt
of
lightning/
Struck
the
courthouse
out
of
shape/
And
while
everyone
knelt
to
pray/The
drifter
did
escape.
Are
there
any
film-makers
who
have
influenced
you?
Yes,
John
Walters,
(Jean-Pierre)
Melville,
(Yasujirō)
Ozu.
That’s
quite
a
span
of
film-making.
Ozu
was
a
big
thing
for
me
when
I
was
younger.
I
learned
the
ability
to
observe
and
be
still
and
humour
also.
Look
at
Good
Morning
about
the
two
kids
who
go
on
a
silence
strike
because
they
want
their
parents
to
buy
them
a
television
set.
It
is
really
funny.