MOVIE REVIEW- "Midnight's Children" A Film by Deepa Mehta

Hello friends,

As a part of academics, I got a chance to attend movie screening of the film adaptation of “Midnight’s Children” at the Department of English, MKBU.

This blog is also a part of academic TASK given below:-

                                      CLICK HERE

“Midnight’s Children” film is based on the famous novel by the Booker prize winner Salman Rushdie. The film is directed by Deepa Mehta and screenplay by Salman Rushdie. The film features many versatile actors like Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Seema Biswas and many more. It was released in 2012. The novel was published in 1981.

The films deals with the historical events like partition of India, Birth of Bangladesh, Emergency of 1975 in India etc. at the backdrop and the story of two boys in the front. We can say History and fiction goes parallel. The genre used by Rushdie in his novel; “Historiographic Metafiction” can be observed in the film as well.

The film tells story of the two boys, Saleem and Shiva. Saleem is the protagonist and the narrator of the story. They are born at the stroke of 12 midnight on 14^th August 1947. Symbolically we can say that it was a birth of two nations India and Pakistan. The children born at midnight had a superpower of Telepathy. Both the children were swapped by a Christian nurse named Marry, for a personal motive. 

The plot moves with the journey of two boys and on the backdrop the journey of nations. The plot is quite fragmented sometimes which creates confusion and also hard to understand. The plot also involves story of three generation- Saleem, his grandfather and his son which makes film a bit dull. Some things were unnecessary shown in the movie.

We can find many postcolonial aspects in this film.

1.) The nurse Marry swapped the children for the personal motive. If we go deep then we can see historical truth behind this. Marry symbolises superiority of Christianity over other religions and also the British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’. The historical event of the partition of India is shown in a fictitious way.

2.) In one of the scene, Saleem’s school teacher speaks some lines rudely by pointing at the students and on the wall behind we can see the picture of Britishers, may be Lord Macaulay. The teacher said, 
“This man brought Civilization to savages”.
Savages is used for the Indian students. Thus, India was civilized only because of the white people.

3.) #Identity Crisis

Saleem and Shiva is the victim of identity crisis. This is presented in quite allegorical way. Children are not aware of their Biological parents and when they know it worsens the situation. At last Saleem gets an identity, he accepts Marry as his mother. This is again problematic.

Many dialogues reflect Saleem’s inner conflict regarding identity:-

“I had many families and I had no family”

“I, orphaned survived”

4.) #Let the rich be poor and poor be rich

The ‘Rich’ can be seen as colonizers and ‘Poor’ as colonized. In the beginning Mary’s deed made Saleem ‘rich guy’ and Shiva a ‘poor guy’. In the Midnight’s children conference Saleem was superior and Shiva was inferior. At the end the coin changes, Shiva gets the power and Saleem is the victim. The point is that richness reflects power and Power always changes people.

Before Independence, Britishers colonized Indians and after Independence, we see internal colonization by our own people in form of National Emergency in 1975 .Whosoever comes in power behaves in the same manner. There is one dialogue in the film which reflects internal colonization:-

“India is Prime Minister and Prime Minister is India”

5.)  Though Salman Rushdie is Indian, somewhere he has portrayed India through western eyes. India is shown as a country of snake charmer and savages.

In one of the scene, we find a poster of “Mother India” in background. We think deeply, it reflects the political concern of the time. Are people really thinking of the nation or it’s just to enjoy the power, to dominate people and control them????

Technique of “Magic Realism”:-

This technique used by Salman Rushdie is very well presented in this film by Deepa Mehta. Mothers can visit dream of her child and know the future. Paravati- the magician also has invisible basket which she uses to help Saleem and her son.

The magic spell ‘Abracadabra’ is used to give effect of magic. Magic realism is presented in a simple manner and that is what magic realism is; to show magic as an ordinary thing, a part of routine life.

The picturization of the characters is done beautifully by the director. As a part of literary movie adaptation, it is a onetime watch. You can’t sit and enjoy the film again and again. As a part of literature it tries to give justice to book.It’s a kind of Diaspora Film.

 Artistic and brilliant but not for delight!