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EDITOR'S PICK
`Midnight`s
Children` - striking epic despite its flaws (IANS Movie Review)
Rating: **1/2
Deepa Mehta`s "Midnight`s Children" is not a well-crafted film of
Salman Rushdie`s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. Yet it captures
the essence of the novel to the core.
Told through the lives of the children born at the stroke of midnight of Aug 15,
1947, especially, Salim, Shiva and Parvati, it is a multi-layered tale of
destinies. It is a story of the rich, the poor and the misguided. It is fiction
and fantasy delightfully wrapped within the folds of the political scenario of
the three countries, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
What precedes the birth of Salim is a complex tale that is narrated in the first
45 minutes of the film. Inspired by her rebel husband`s communist slogan,
"Let the rich be poor and the poor, rich", the misguided paediatric
nurse, Mary, deliberately switches the identity tags of the two babies as a
gesture of solidarity and thereby swaps their destinies.
Moving ahead, in childhood, Salim discovers that thanks to a sneeze and the
sniffles, he can hear and see all of the other 581 surviving children around the
country born at the same historic day and time as he. Dubbing them as Midnight`s
Children, he has the power to call "conferences" in his bedroom late
at night, bringing their presence together from all parts to plan the fate of
the nation, including the hot-headed Shiva and pretty and mystical Parvati, the
spell-weaving witch.
The three are intertwined again as adults in the film`s last act when Shiva, now
a ruthless military commander, and Salim, following six years of amnesia, become
involved with the beautiful adult witch, Parvati against the background of
Indira Gandhi`s brutal emergency measures.
Rushdie`s rich characters are brought to life by a strong ensemble of esteemed
actors whose performances were well extracted by director Deepa Mehta. Debutant
Satya Bhabha delivers a confident performance as the grown up Salim and
Siddharth is the perfect foil for him as the embittered Shiva. Darsheel Safary
as the young Salim is undoubtedly brilliant.
The competent Seema Biswas is charming as the misguided, guilt-ridden nurse and
the catalyst for the unfolding sequence of events. Shahana Goswami smoothly
conveys the poignant turmoil of the mother inadvertently caught in the
cross-fire, while Ronit Roy is exacting as the frustrated businessman. Anita
Majumdar also makes an impression as the hard-hearted, ambitious Emerald,
alongside Rahul Bose as her military power-broker husband, Zulfikar.
Rajat Kapoor as Dr.Aziz, Salim`s putative grandfather is amusing. Shabana Azmi
as Rajat Kapoor`s wife, Sriya Sharan as Parvati, Soha Ali Khan as Salim`s sister
and Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Picture Singh are wasted.
Visually, the film encompasses scenes of war, liberation, celebration,
corruption, romance and mourning - all beautifully captured by cinematographer
Giles Nuttgens. The visuals are brilliantly layered with Nitin Sawhney`s
ethereal score, making it a perfect backdrop with the mystical quality of the
magic realism scenes; it is like watching a stunning canvas gradually come to
life.
Even with Salman Rushdie`s narration and screenplay, what probably did not work
for "Midnight`s Children" are the abrupt scenes. Each scene is
brilliant, but in silos, disconnected with the next, making it difficult to
capture and bring to life the essence of the book that combines a type of
unexplained practicality.
Yet this is a striking, well-produced and thoughtfully designed epic.
Even with all its flaws, "Midnight`s Children" is worth a watch. If
nothing else, go and watch "Midnight`s Children" to satiate your
curiosity about this much-talked about novel.
Midnight`s Children is an epic film from Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta, based on the Booker Prize winning novel by Salman Rushdie. At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, as India proclaims independence from Great Britain, two newborn babies are switched by a nurse in a Bombay hospital. Saleem Sinai, the illegitimate son of a poor woman, and Shiva, the offspring of a wealthy couple, are fated to live the destiny meant for each other. Their lives become mysteriously intertwined and are inextricably linked to India`s whirlwind journey of triumphs and disasters.
From the unlikely romance of Saleem`s grandparents to the birth of his own son,Midnight`s Childrenis a journey at once sweeping in scope and yet intimate in tone. Hopeful, comic and magical – the film conjures images and characters as rich and unforgettable as India herself.