Midnight's Children

 This blog is a response of thinking activity which was given by  Dr. Dilip Barad sir. this blog is about Midnight's children which was written by Salman Rushdie.

‎No people whose word for 'yesterday' is the same as their word for 'tomorrow' can be said to have a firm grip on the time.”

-Salman Rushdie

About Author:

Salman Rushdie, in full Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, born June 19, 1947, Mumbai  Indian-born writer whose allegorical novels examine historical and philosophical issues by means of  surreal characters, brooding humour, and an effusive and melodramatic prose style. His treatment of sensitive religious and political subjects made him a controversial figure.

Controversial Figure

Nowadays Rushdie was a most controversial figure because there is incident in which  August 12, 2022 at around 10:47 a.m. EDT,, a man stabbed Salman Rushdie as he was about to give a public lecture on the United States as safe haven for exiled writers at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, United States.

The 75-year-old was stabbed 15 times and was later airlifted to a hospital, where he was put on ventilator support for roughly a day. A day after the attack, his agent Andrew Wylie confirmed that Rushdie was taken off the ventilator and he was talking, reported AP.

Fatwa &Death Treats

Rushdie’s book 'The Satanic Verses' has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. A bounty of over $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie,' reports AP.

Recalling the incident, author and Rushdie's friend, Ian McEwan had said in an earlier interview to The Guardian, "The first few months were the worst. No one knew anything. Were Iranian agents, professional killers, already in place in the UK when the fatwa was proclaimed? Might a "freelancer", stirred by a denunciation in a mosque, be an effective assassin? The media excitement was so intense that it was hard to think straight. The mobs were frightening. They burned books in the street, they bayed for blood outside parliament and waved "Rushdie must die" placards. No one was arrested for incitement."

Rushdie’s book 'The Satanic Verses' has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. A bounty of over $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie,' reports AP.

Recalling the incident, author and Rushdie's friend, Ian McEwan had said in an earlier interview to The Guardian, "The first few months were the worst. No one knew anything. Were Iranian agents, professional killers, already in place in the UK when the fatwa was proclaimed? Might a "freelancer", stirred by a denunciation in a mosque, be an effective assassin? The media excitement was so intense that it was hard to think straight. The mobs were frightening. They burned books in the street, they bayed for blood outside parliament and waved "Rushdie must die" placards. No one was arrested for incitement."

About Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children is a loose allegory for events in 1947 British Raj India and after the Partition of india. The protagonist and narrator of the story is Saleem Sinai born at the exact moment when India became an independent country. He was born with telepathic powers, as well as an enormous and constantly dripping nose with an extremely sensitive sense of smell. This work of Rushdie  divided in  three books

1st book:1915-1947

2nd book:1947-1965

3rd book:1965-1978

Film Adoption

Midnight’s Children is Calgary International Film Festival’s Red Carpet Opening Gala presentation. Directed by Indo-Canadian, Oscar nominated Deepa Mehta (Water, 2005) in close collaboration with author Salman Rushdie, the film’s screening on September 20 marked its Western Canadian premiere.

Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize in 1981, and the Best of the Booker in 2008. While the novel is magic realism in genre, the film adaptation is a realistic, almost exact transposition of the novel into screen. Author Salman Rushdie asserts his authority in condensing 533 pages into 148 minutes of screen time, offering us a concise rendition of an epic story spanning four generations.

he audience has much to gain not only from Rushdie adapting his own work, but also from his voiceover narration. This is especially beneficial for those who have not read the novel. Here, the narrator is speaking directly to the viewers, and not like the book narrator Saleem telling his story to Padma as the reader eavesdrops. Rushdie’s narration strings together time, places, events, emotions and nuances into coherence.

Narrative Techinque Of The Novel

 The narrator of the story or it can be said that the protagonist of the story is Saleem Sinai.The novel begins with this line  

I was born in the city of Bombay... once upon a time. No, that won'tdo, there's no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikar's Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947. And the time? The time matters, too.

So it can be observe that in the begining  of the novel Saleem himself  narrating his story. After narrating his story he tells story of city of Bombay. here Rushdie use it not as a city but as a character.

Uses of Time: Present to Past To Future

in the novel as well as in movie it can be observe that saleem narrates a story from present to and past to future. he begins his story  from his present time then he shifted the time when he was born and it ended with his child.

Uses of Flashbacks

in the movie there is flashbacks is use here. the  flashback is use to remember the incidents of Saleem's childhood, or to remember other character.

Absense of Padma's character 

in the novel the character of padma is present as a listener of saleem's story padma is represented as uneducated woman. but in the movie there is absense of padma's character.so there is no listener in the movie this is major change in movie

As the character of padma is absense in movie saleem doesn't tell any one about his condition as well as his problems.

in the movie there is another character instead of Padma who is known as Picture Singh. he is not a listener as padma was, but he is silent observer of Saleem's life (After Marriage).