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'Midnight's Children': It’s just a grand Indian saga

Filmmaker Deepa Mehta, author and screenplay writer Salman Rushdie and leading lady Shriya Saran were in Bangalore to answers questions on their upcoming saga — Midnight’s Children.

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The world might have labelled it as ‘unfilmable’, but the author admits to have had Bollywood somewhere at the back of his mind when he was penning this magnificent novel. “I have grown up in Mumbai, it’s hard to take Bollywood out of me,” admits Salman Rushdie, the author of Midnight’s Children, the theatrical adaptation of which will release in India on February 1. Directed by Deepa Mehta and starring a handful of brilliant performers, Midnight’s Children is nothing but a ‘grand Indian saga’ as the author and director say. Accompanied by the petite Shriya Saran, who’s bagged one of the most important roles in the film — that of Parvati — the three patiently addressed queries, on a warm afternoon, keeping their sense of humour intact. Excerpts from the interview...

Deepa, this one’s for you. How delighted were you when the censor board in India passed your film without a cut?
Deepa: You know, when the film was being screened at festivals and then released in Toronto and UK, some people from the Indian community, came up and told me, “This film is beautiful. Too bad it won’t release in India”. I even faced the question: “How does it feel, now that the film has been banned?” And this was even before the film was screened for certification. So the anxiousness was definitely there. Look what happened to Vishwaroopam. I know films get banned/slashed; but when we got the ‘all clear’ from the censor board, I was very happy and relieved. The board told us that the film has the facts in place, is not fanciful and was cleared without any deletions or cuts.
Shriya: I was in Toronto with my mother for the film’s release. And I told her, ‘come let’s go watch it’, but she said, “no, we will watch the movie in India”. She was willing to attend the Q&A session before the screening but wouldn’t watch the film there. I think she knew right from the beginning that the film will release in India.

As an author, how hard was it for you to actually write the screenplay of your own novel, given that major deletion would be necessary?

Rushdie: It’s hard. Writing is hard. Plus I don’t read my own books once they’re done. So I had to take another look at the novel, but with a different perspective. Ihad to find the film in the novel. It took me a while but I think I have been able to give Midnight’s Children, the movie, a different identity and it can be seen independent of the book. When a book is being adapted into a film, I think it’s important that people see the film as just that, and not go back to its book immediately to compare. Yes, there are plenty of sections that were changed and taken out but it was done only to make the film better and complete. When you read the novel, you can see bits of the film in it. I think somewhere in the back of my mind, Bollywood was always there. I grew up in Mumbai after all.
Deepa: I have to say, Salman did not want to write the screenplay of the film. I had to make him. And I think it’s the best way to do it; when you’re adapting, the author of the book should write the screenplay, provided he can, because he/she will know exactly what to do with it.

But many international reviews have called the screenplay ‘tedious’ and ‘labourious’... So do you think Salman Rushdie, the author, did a good job as a screenplay writer?

Deepa: The reviews have been mixed, yes. Some loved it and some found it, labourious. I don’t get these British film critics, to be honest. But I think for a non-Indian to watch the film and grasp 60 years of a country’s evolution, paired with magic and drama, can be quite difficult. The whole idea of swapping babies will be hard for a foreign film critic to digest but think about it, it’s been happening in Indian cinema for years. It’s happened even in reality and quite frequently. I would say that the content has to be a bit relevant for someone to understand the film.
Rushdie: When the novel had come out, a British newspaper, in the sports column, had referred to it and how as a child, Sunil Gavaskar had been switched at birth and it was an uncle who spotted it and fixed the problem. So yes, things like these are known to happen in India.

Shriya, considering that you’re this glam diva who acts in commercial pot boilers, how hard was it to play such a stripped down role of Parvati?
Shriya: It would have been very hard, if not for Deepa. She is the one who kept my faith high. In fact, even when I believed that I couldn’t do it, she said I could. So, apart from the usual acting workshops, meeting women from slums who were around during India’s Independence and trying to understand what really happened at that time, Deepa had a big hand to play in my portrayal of Parvati.
Deepa: I have to add that Shriya has a done a marvellous job. She has not one iota of makeup on her and for an actor it’s not easy to face the camera without it. But she’s done beautifully. The two of us worked together in Cooking With Stella and at that time itself I’d told her that we would do something bigger together; I am very glad that she is Parvati.

But would you be able to play something like this again?
Shriya: I am not sure. If Deepa is the director, maybe I can. But I know it’s going to be very hard for me.

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