INDIAN BUYERS SHUN MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN MOVIE

The film adaptation of the novel comes 31 years after the publication of the book. A look at some of the significant intervening events

TORONTO: Distributors in more than 40 countries have picked up the rights of the film version of Salman Rushdie’s Booker-winning novel Midnight’s Children. India isn’t one of them.
Shriya Sharan as Parvati and Satya Bhabha as Saleem Sinai in Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children. Speaking at the film’s premiere in Toronto, director Deepa Mehta said it would be a “pity” if people in India did not see the film because of “insecure politicians”.
Midnight’s Children was critical of Indira Gandhi and the Emergency, triggering a defamation suit from the late Indian prime minister against Rushdie.
The movie has an unnamed female prime minister being played by actress Sarita Choudhary. The role, seemingly modelled on Gandhi, is presumably the cause of the Indian distributors’ anxiety.
Actor Rahul Bose plays the lead in the film, which is scheduled for a worldwide release in October. 1981: publishes Salman the novel Rushdie in April
1981: highest Book UK literary wins the prize, the Booker

1984: Indira Gandhi sues Rushdie for defamation; he deletes an offending part
1990s: BBC’s attempt to create a mini-series based on the novel proves abortive
1993: Novel wins the Booker of Bookers
2006: 25th anniversary edition published with a new foreword by the author
2010: Rushdie and director Deepa Mehta announce collaboration at the IAAC Film Festival, New York
2011: Film is shot in Sri Lanka
2012: Film premieres at TIFF, Canada, and Telluride; expected official release is late autumn.