MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN (PART-1)
Writer:
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian Subcontinent.
Recently, Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York on 12 August 2022, based on a fatwa issued on Feb. 12, 1989 for his work ‘The Satanic Verses’ (1988). Read the new in detail CLICK HERE
Novel:
Midnight’s Children is a Second novel of Salman Rushdie. Midnight's Children sold over one million copies in the UK alone and won the Booker Prize and 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. In 2003 the novel appeared at number 100 on the BBC's The Big Read poll which determined the UK's "best-loved novels" of all time.
The novel basically is from Kashmir in 1917 to Bombay 1977, it brings us through the ending of British rule, the birth of a nation, the Partition of India and Pakistan, later the war of independence of Bangladesh, and finally, the Emergency under the government of Indira Gandhi.
Amidst the torrents of history emerges the main character Saleem Sinai. The film begins with his grandfather Dr. Aziz (Rajat Kapoor) in Kashmir, examining his patient and future wife Naseem (Shabana Azmi) through a perforated sheet. Then comes the next generation of Saleem’s parents Amina (Shahana Goshwami) and her husband Ahmed Sinai (Ronit Roy), moving to Bombay, giving birth to a baby boy at the stroke of midnight, the dawn of India’s independence on August 14, 1947. But baby Saleem is a changeling with another baby born at the same time, Shiva, by the hands of Mary (Seema Biswas) the nurse.
Narrative technique in Midnight’s Children
S. Rushdie’s Midnight's Children uses a unique and innovative style of narration which is completely different from traditional narrative techniques and makes his work challenging for readers. We find fragmentation and non- linearity in the narration. It uses varied elements like first person narration, oriental and western texts, magic realism.
William Walsh rightly praised Rushdie's technique,
"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"
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.
“It was an exercise in discovering the essence of the book,” Rushdie said in an interview on CBC radio.
Firstly let us discuss the change in narration in adaptation. In film the narrator is directly speaking to viewers while the Novel has a traditional India (eastern) way of telling story, narrator Saleem tells his story to Padma as the reader eavesdrops, Similar to Nat and Sutra Dhar i.e, India Oral Narratological method.
In classic texts it is not necessary what is told but how it is told is important and Rushdie in his novel has brought a new set of literary terms. He broke grammatical rules and brought a significant relation between prose and cinema. Midnight's Children is rich in allusions to Indian history, literature, and mythology. Casting his unreliable first-person narrator, Saleem Sinai, in the mold of the traditional Indian story-teller.
Midnight’s Children open up as box- in- box stories, story within story the metaphor for this can be used are Russian Dolls and a Chinese box.
Narrative devices used in this novel are similar to the story method in Panchatantra, kathasarit sagar etc warriors stories. There is always a story and within stories are told or narrated to the listener as Saleem is telling stories to Padma and readers are provided with a variety of stories.
As in Panchatantra, there are the stories of animals (Fables) to teach the princes of the King Sudarshan or Amarshakti’s three sons named Bahushakti, Ugrashakti and Shakti.
Vishnu Sharma (Brahmin) knew that these three cannot be taught in conventional means so through stories of animals he gave them morals lessons and we got various stories. This story is frame within the frame.
Singhasen battisi where the 32 dolls on the sinhasan of Vikramaditya tells 32 stories to king Bhoj.In the frame story, the 11th century king Bhoj discovers the throne of the legendary ancient king Vikramaditya (also known as Bikramjit). The throne has 32 statues, who are actually apsaras that had been turned into stone due to a curse. Each of the apsaras tells Bhoja a story about the life and adventures of Vikramaditya, in order to convince him that he is not deserving of Vikramaditya's throne.
Similarly, we find a variety of Indian stories which are frame in frame, a conversation between narrator and listeners and readers get a variety of stories. E.g.- Alif Laila – Arabian Nights, Baital Pachisi, Kathasaritsagara, Shahrazad, and Shahryar. Adding to it also our epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and not forgetting Girish Karnard’s Hayavadana.
Rushdie adopts the device of Magic realism in Midnight's children. characteristics of this new style were identified as the mingling of the realistic and fantastic, natural and supernatural, skillful time shifts, use of dreams, myths, fantasy and fairy tales. While reading Midnight's Children we find that the whole novel is a perfect combination of reality and imagination between the real and the unreal. There are many places in Midnight's Children where Rushdie used the device of magic realism for the framework of the novel. When we go through the novel, we find that Saleem Sinai, the protagonist, has the gift of having an incredible sense of smell which allows him to determine other's thoughts and emotions. With a sneeze, he could call a conference of all the midnight’s children and call off the conference also. Rushdie's use of magic realism and his exuberant prose, which features extensive use of symbolism and hyperbole, led many critics to compare his style with that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Rushdie also added a pinch of Bollywood, Bombay cinema. Melodramatic elements like changing of children in the hospital, real- parents, and step-parents' behavior over truth. Also, the alter- egos of Saleem and Shiva come up as Heroes and villains in the story.
We find the use of Hindi and Urdu in the English novel which can be considered as a chutnification of language. The words like 'ekdum', 'angrez', 'nasbandi', 'dhoban', 'firangee', 'rakshasas', 'garam masala', 'baba', 'badmash', 'goondas', 'sarpanch', 'paan', 'khichari', 'gur' etc. are used in flawless English. Also expressions and phrases such as 'baap-re-baap', 'hai-hai', 'sab kuch', 'chi-chi', pyar kiyadarna kya', 'ooper-niche', 'bhai-bhai', 'nimbu-pani' etc.
The narrative style used by Rushdie makes it a unique, wonderful, and mind-blowing novel.
Characters in the novel and in the movie.
Midnight’s children is a heavy book of more than 600 pages and it is difficult to bring such a magnificent book into the film of two and a half hours. As we discussed in the style of narration has a variety of stories in it, like a Russian doll it opens into a new story. So to bring such a large and fragmented tale into a movie is a difficult task. It is possible if a web series is prepared on it the OTT platform according to today’s trend then perhaps the director can conclude and have the essence of the whole novel Midnight’s Children.
We find a whole Wikipedia page on the list of characters in Midnight’s children. CLICK HERE to visit it.
The film adaptation has taken very few important main characters from the novel which has completely changed its narrative. The important character in the Novel Padma who is the listener of narrator Saleem is not adapted or excluded in the film.
Character in the movie are:
Saleem Sinai
Parvati
Shiva
Ghani
Naseem
Young Naseem
Mary
William Methwold
Wee Willie Winkie
Aadam Aziz
Jamila
Zulfikar
Emerald
Amina
Joseph D'Costa
Ahmed Sinai
Picture Singh
Alia
Nadir Khan
Indira Gandhi
Hardy
Governor
Laurel
Field Marshal
Astrologer
Rajesh Khera
Salman Rushdie, the narrator
The original book consists of more than 89 characters and in the film, only 26 characters are included. If we watch a movie without any previous reading about the text and historical background it becomes difficult for us to understand the movie or storyline. As a Novel, film adaptation also seems to be fragmented. We realize that the novel has told a variety of stories that can not be bound in a limited time.
In the movie, some small parts are symbolically talked about. The novel has a glimpse of Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati (Rustom Pavri)’s case, Commander Sabarmati, and Laila Sabarmati’s case, which brings out the idea of a mother’s extramarital effect. And to bring this idea to the novel Rushdie used the poster of Mother India movie.
There are many such things or events from the novel told symbolically or excluded. We can understand the difficulty to bring so many stories into one movie but still somehow Rushdie's Film adaptation has tried to bring the essence of the novel. But definitely, we don't get the whole idea of a novel through movies. While watching Pride and Prejudice film adaptation 98% of the novel’s storyline and plot idea can be known but it's not the case with this Novel and Movie, so if one is interested in it he/ she must read the novel.
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