Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie, in full Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, (born June 19, Bombay(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.

Salman Rushdie has been perhaps one of the most controversial figures of Indian diaspora in recent years.

Midnight’s Children, allegorical novel by Salman Rushdie, published in 1981. It is a historical chronicle of modern India centring on the inextricably linked fates of two children who were born within the first hour of independence from Great Britain.

Exactly at midnight on Aug. 15, 1947, two boys are born in a Bombay (now Mumbai) hospital, where they are switched by a nurse. Saleem Sinai, who will be raised by a well-to-do Muslim couple, is actually the illegitimate son of a low-caste Hindu woman and a departing British colonist. Shiva, the son of the Muslim couple, is given to a poor Hindu street performer whose unfaithful wife has died.

Saleem represents modern India. When he is 30, he writes his memoir, Midnight’s Children. Shiva is destined to be Saleem’s enemy as well as India’s most honoured war hero. This multilayered novel places Saleem at every significant event that occurred on the Indian subcontinent in the 30 years after independence.

Midnight’s Children was awarded the Booker McConnell Prize for fiction in 1981. In 1993 it was chosen as the best Booker Prize novel in 25 years.In 2008, the novel was selected as the best of Bookers in past 40 years.

Narrative technique 

 The novel is notable for many things and one of them is the innovative narrative technique used by Rushdie.Rushdie's Midnight's Children introduces a new narrative technique which is totally different from the

traditional narrative techniques.  In this way, he gave a new direction to Indian writing in English. William Walsh Rightly praised the technique by saying that,"combining the elements of magic and Fantasy, the grimmest realism, extravagant force, multi-mirrored analogy, and a potent symbolic structure, Salman Rushdie has captured the astonishing energy of the novel unprecedented in scope, manner and achievement in the hundred and fifty years old tradition of the India novel in English. He uses the first person narrative through Saleem Sinai, the protagonist of the novel. Rushdie also makes good use of the device of Magic Realism in Midnight's Children.

 Rushdie's use of cinematic elements can clearly be seen inthe novel.  His use of Indian world like ekdum angrez, firangee etc. give Indian flavor to the novel. Rushdie can be considered the master of narrative techniques at present time. Rushdie employees the technique of the first person narrative in Midnight's Children. The characters are introduced long before they actually appear in the novel. It creates suspense in the mind of the readers.

The novel covers a period of seventy five years of the history of the Indian subcontinent. The protagonist,Saleem Sinai, narrates the story of his birth and the birth of Indian subcontinent. The narrative blurs the

chronological boundaries. As, Rushdies counterpart,Saleem Sinai narrates his story from a distance of time, and place. Saleem is endowed with magic power so that he can see from a distance and read the mind of readers.

Metaphors used in narrative technique in Midnight's Children

Russian Dolls 

Chinese Boxes 

Baital Pachisi 

Arabian Nights 

For further deep information you can visit the presentation given in Slideshare Presentation.

Characters ( How many includes and how many left out?)

Characters of movie are as follows :-

Satya Bhabha as Saleem Sinai

Shriya Saran as Parvati-the-witch

Siddharth Narayan as Shiva

Darsheel Safary as Saleem Sinai (as a child)

Anupam Kher as Ghani

Shabana Azmi as Naseem

Neha Mahajan as Young Naseem

Seema Biswas as Mary

Charles Dance as William Methwold

Samrat Chakrabarti as Wee Willie Winkie

Rajat Kapoor as Aadam Aziz

Soha Ali Khan as Jamila

Rahul Bose as Zulfikar

Anita Majumdar as Emerald

Shahana Goswami as Amina

Chandan Roy Sanyal as Joseph D'Costa

Ronit Roy as Ahmed Sinai

Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Picture Singh

Shikha Talsania as Alia

Zaib Shaikh as Nadir Khan

Sarita Choudhury as Indira Gandhi

Vinay Pathak as Hardy

Kapila Jeyawardena as Governor

Ranvir Shorey as Laurel

Suresh Menon as Field Marshal

G.R Perera as Astrologer

Excluded characters from movie 

Padma

Alice Pereira

Sonny Ibrahim

Commander Sabarmati

Ramram Sheth

Lila Sabarmati

Homy Carrack

Nalikar Women

Themes and Symbols

The Perforated Sheet 

The perforated sheet through which Aadam Aziz falls in love with his future wife performs several different symbolic functions throughout the novel. Unable to see his future wife as a whole, Aadam falls in love with her in pieces. Secondly the hole of the perforated sheet represents a portal for vision but also a void that goes unfilled. The perforated sheet makes one final appearance with Jamila Singer in an attempt to preserve her purity, she shrouds herself completely, except for a single hole for her lips.

The silver spittoon 

The silver spittoon given to Amina as part of her dowry by the Rani of Cooch Naheen is responsible for Saleem’s loss of memory. Even when he has amnesia, however, Saleem continues to cherish the spittoon as if he still understands its historical value.The spittoon is the symbol of a vanishing era, which, in retrospect, seemed simpler and easier. And so, although Saleem may not be able to recall the specific association between the spittoon and his family, the spittoon maintains its symbolic quality as both a container of memory and source of amnesia.

Knees and nose

The seer, Ramram, predicts the birth of “knees and nose,” which represent Shiva and Saleem, respectively. In addition to symbolizing each boy’s special power, knees and nose also play another role. When Aadam Aziz first kneels down to pray, his knees touch the floor and his nose hits the ground.Knees and nose, in this instance, represent an act of prayer, as well as the submission and humility necessary faith.

The texture of the novel

The film is not told in chronological order, but it is told in flashback. When Salim remembered something he told the audience and listener. And then come back to real life from that flashback. There is different time line used in movie .

Aesthetic experience 

Director is Deepa Mehta and 

narrator is Salman Rushdie. 

The film begins with narrator Saleem Sinai describing his birth at the exact moment of Indian independence. His narrative then jumps back to 1917 Kashmir where his grandfather Dr. Aadam Aziz etc the story jumps from one to another while watching movie one has to became conscious and watch. In the novel Saleem narrates story to Padma but in movie the character of Padma is excluded. The character of Saleem is portrayed very significantly that attracts the most . The story line is moving like water waves.