When the movies became talkies nearly 100 years ago, it all but spelled the end for the popular silent comedian. But that talent still walks among us, largely untapped. Radhika Apte, who became one of India’s first Netflix stars with titles like the series “Sacred Games” and crime comedy “Monica, O My Darling,” gets to unleash those slapstick skills in “Sister Midnight,” now opening in New York before expanding to Los Angeles and other cities. As the disgruntled newlywed Uma, Apte has hardly anyone to even talk to at the start of the film. Uma hates cleaning. She can’t cook. And her husband (Ashok Pathak) doesn’t even have the character to be disagreeable, stumbling back to their one-room Mumbai abode each night, drunk and defeated.

What begins as a satire on arranged marriage then dashes off into amusing, far-flung territories, with Uma’s gloomy disposition becoming infused with a more surreal, genre-associated affliction — one that shouldn’t be spoiled, but seems a perfectly natural development under the command of Apte’s terrific deadpan performance.

British Indian director Karan Kandhari‘s stringent, syncopated rhythms keep an expert handle too. With stop-motion animals and a nocturnal ambiance, “Sister Midnight” possesses a manic strength of personality — the kind that has honed its confidence through years of development. It was the project’s ability to finally lure a major name like Apte that put it on track, and in turn gifted the star a vehicle so low-key and outrageous that it likely would have never reached her peers.

“Growing up, I always wanted to be a Bollywood actress, dancing on top of a mountain, wearing a silk saree. But there are quite regressive gender equations too,” Apte says, speaking over a Zoom call from London. “When I look back at the films I used to adore, it shocks me. It’s so patriarchal. But I’m only referring to Bollywood because I’m from India. Obviously, it’s everywhere.”

Even working in higher-budget productions at the start of her screen-acting career, Apte has never quite felt of a piece with the industry she became famous in. One of her most acclaimed credits, the murder comedy “Andhadhun,” sees the actress making the most of limited screen time, playing what could be a simplistic love interest to star Ayushmann Khurrana, but adding a limited patience for his character’s shenanigans that isn’t necessarily in the script.

“That comes from my personality. I’ve done a couple of films with the director, Sriram Raghavan. Someone else fell through last minute and he called me panicked. The part wasn’t really big, so we were like, ‘What can we bring to make it interesting?’” Apte says. “A very conventional part is very boring. I don’t know people who are goody-goody like that.”

Apte had a supporting role in Raghavan’s last feature, the mystery romance “Merry Christmas.” But productions of that size have been fewer and further between in recent years — a conscious decision by Apte, as she focuses on developing her own work. She is currently looking to direct “Koyta,” a Hindi- and Marathi-language action film about a superpowered, impoverished sugarcane cutter.

The actress credits the Oscar-winning “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as the film that initially expanded her cinematic horizons. Apte watched the Miloš Forman classic in her adolescence, attending a screening held by the National Film Archive of India in her hometown of Pune.

“I had to come home because I felt suffocated. I wanted to cry. I was so moved by that film. I didn’t know that a film could have that impact on you,” Apte says. “Bollywood films can make you very happy, but they don’t have that kind of impact — at least not the ones that I used to watch.”

Her other most recent credit also came from outside Bollywood: Justin Lin’s Andaman Island-set missionary period piece “Last Days,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance.

“To be honest, I prefer smaller films. The bigger units just bore me. It’s so much waiting around,” Apte says. “I always wanted to do productions in different countries. Stories that can travel have to be universal, but to be universal they need to be very specific. … People have asked if ‘Sister Midnight’ is a feminist film or if it’s commentary on arranged marriage in India. But it’s not really. You take any human being in a harsh structure anywhere — and that’s the story.”

Indeed, “Sister Midnight” has proven a global attraction. After premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight section at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, it earned a BAFTA nomination for outstanding British debut, as well as a British Independent Film Award nod for Apte in the lead performance category. Earlier this week, after this interview took place, the film finally set a release in India for May 23. Apte knows some of her industry peers are keen to see it, but she maintains some measured expectations: “A lot of people don’t have the patience these days to watch something without finding out instantly what it’s about.”

“I’m very aware of where the paycheck comes from and what I actually enjoy. … I’d like to do one for my agent, and then maybe two for myself. But honestly, you don’t get enough interesting scripts for it to be two for you,” Apte says. “‘Sister Midnight’ was an immediate yes. It’s completely crazy. How often do you get an opportunity where you go, ‘Fuck, we’re doing something really different and it could go wrong. But who cares?’”