‘I’ve never met a woman with such a filthy mouth,’ baulks Gopal, new husband to Uma, a free-spirited, ragingly defiant and spectacularly strange woman, who kicks up a stink when she moves into Gopal’s tiny Mumbai shack, spicing up his monotonous existence. This wild, genre-bending comedy from British Indian director Karan Kandhari was nominated for Outstanding Debut at this year’s BAFTAs and it’s not hard to see why.

As played by Radhika Apte in a fiery and eye-catching performance, Uma is mad as hell at her pathetic lot after being married off to the feckless Gopal (Ashok Pathak), her childhood crush who, it turns out, has zero interest in her or indeed anything. After some initial animosity, Uma bonds with her neighbour Sheetal (Chhaya Kadam), who teaches her to cook, and she manages to secure herself a cleaning job in the city before things take a sinister and fantastical turn.

Full of vibrant visuals and furiously feminist energy, this is a wonderfully entertaining, stereotype-confounding and consistently surprising film that’s as rule-breaking as its protagonist. Kandhari boasts an eye for comedic compositions to rival the likes of Aki Kaurismäki, whilst capturing the specific chaos, culture and colour of Mumbai. Sister Midnight loses some of its focus and satirical flair as it heads off down a horror-inspired road, but its batshit nature and imaginative execution is to be applauded. As a first film, it’s as impressive as they come.

Sister Midnight is in cinemas from Friday 14 March.