Movie review of midnight's children

                     "Midnight's Children"
                                                     -Film review

'Midnight's children' is a novel by the famous writer 'Salman Rushdie'. Midnight's children won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981. It was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. it is a postcolonial novel in which writer gives account of events happened during British India and Independent India. He adds the beauty to these events by using the tool 'Magic Realism' which makes novel imaginative piece of literature instead of boring historical novel. 


The protagonist of novel Saleem sinai was born on the exact movement when India gained it's freedom from British rule, 15th august,1947. He is the narrator of story and starts telling from the life of his grandfather. His grandfather named Adam Aziz was doctor begins treating Naseem his grandmother. Here one can read postcolonial feminism that Adam was not allowed to treat Naseem directly. Even Doctor can not check woman, she remained in 'parda'. Novel begins in Kashmir, the place is already problematic for India and Pakistan. Novel speaks about some minority muslim people who didn't want partition. But 'Islamophobia' spreads in such a way nowadays that we always blame them for everything. 


Saleem born on the midnight of India's independence with giant nose therefore possesses telepathic power to gather children who born on the same midnight. other children also possess the enormous power. 'Magic realism' is the aesthetic aspect of the novel. so readers can not question or accept surreal things as telepathic power of Saleem, Even the mother Naseem can go into the dreams of daughters, Parvati's power of doing magic 'Abra ka dabra'. 


Novel raises the ontological question of Saleem's life. We can find several gray areas about Saleem's identity. When we ask question epistemologicaly at that time we find several information about his existence and identity. Perhaps he is child of William Mathwold and slave lady so the problem of hybridity takes place.  But then exchanged by nurse and got rich family. 'Let the rich be poor and poor be rich'. it suggests that we are thrown in this careless universe, we don't have control over birth. The identity which is given to us or label with which we live as Hindu, Muslim or christian is fake. Because we don't know the fact about someone's birth. Saleem lives with given identity but all of a sudden he come across the truth that 'he is not what he is'. And suddenly lost his fortune and becomes poor person. so at the end he speaks that 'I had many family and no family'. 


Political crisis is one of the major events of the novel. Which portrayed the India during 'Indira Gandhi's' rule. Emergency is world-known political crisis for India.Novel evokes the pathetic condition of poor people. India got the democracy, freedom and progress at the cost of poor people. Salman Rushdie makes fun of India's progress by suggesting that India and Saleem grew together.   


One can find a postcolonial aspect in novel and film. Because salman Rushdie was abandoned writer for India and 'Deepa Mehta' the director of the film is Canadian. So they portrayed India as a country of 'snake charmers' and the people who believe in superstitions. So they narrate 'Orient' people as inferior and badly poor.  


In a way this novel has the postcolonial characteristics. which gives picture of India during British rule and after the independence.