Midnight's Children (2012)

A pair of children, born within moments of India gaining independence from Britain, grow up in the country that is nothing like their parent's generation.

Director:

Deepa Mehta

Writers:

Salman Rushdie (screenplay), Salman Rushdie (based on a book by)

Stars:

Rajat Kapoor, Vansh Bhardwaj, Anupam Kher

4 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rajat Kapoor	...	Aadam Aziz
Vansh Bhardwaj	...	Boatman
Anupam Kher	...	Ghani
Neha Mahajan	...	Young Naseem
Dhritiman Chatterjee	...	Mian Abdullah (as Dhritiman Chaterji)
Kusum Haidar	...	Rani of Cooch Naheen (as Kusum Haider)
Zaib Shaikh	...	Nadir Khan
Kabir Singh Chowdhry	...	Mian's Assassin
Shabana Azmi	...	Naseem
Anita Majumdar	...	Emerald
Shahana Goswami	...	Mumtaz / Amina
Shikha Talsania	...	Alia
Rahul Bose	...	Zulfikar
Hasitha Samarasekara	...	Adjutant
Ronit Roy	...	Ahmed Sinai

Storyline

A pair of children, born within moments of India gaining independence from Britain, grow up in the country that is nothing like their parent's generation.

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Plot Keywords:

children | india | screenplay adapted by author | f rated | factory owner | 

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Taglines:

A child and country were born at midnight once upon a time

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Canada UK

Language:

English Hindi Urdu

Release Date:

26 December 2012 (UK)

Also Known As:

Hijos de la media noche

Filming Locations:

Sri Lanka

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,200, 28 April 2013, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$139,644, 26 May 2013

Company Credits

Production Co:

David Hamilton Productions, Hamilton Mehta Productions, Number 9 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

146 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in 65 different locations over 69 days.

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Goofs

The train leaving for Mumbai from Agra in 1942 has modern compartments.

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Soundtracks

Good Night Ladies
Written by Edwin Pearce Christy
Performed by Samrat Chakrabarti

User Reviews

Good adaptation

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to watch an early screening of 'Midnight's Children' at the BFI London Film Festival. In the wake of several adaptations (Cloud Atlas, Silver linings playbook, Life of Pi) I wasn't really expecting much out of Midnoght's Children in particular.

When I first saw the trailer I wasn't thoroughly impressed. The acclaimed novel by Salman Rushdie is my favorite book of all time (Booker of Booker prize) and I had a hard time believing a film adaptation would come remotely close to the brilliance of the novel. I didn't want to watch the movie like a father that doesn't want to believe his son is doing drugs.

Thankfully, my son isn't doing drugs, and the movie isn't as bad as I expected. The cinematography is pretty good and the acting, which relied on Asian actors, is very good. I would have enjoyed a better soundtrack - sometimes the music felt eerily like b-quality Bollywood. There are also some scenes that could have been edited better - but I'm not in the movie business so what do I know? Big chunks of the novel are left out but I guess that's normal considering there always have to be some trimming here and there when transforming a novel into a film.

Overall great movie that doesn't disappoint fans of the novel. Sure, it could have been better - but hey, in this day and age, what couldn't be better?