Midnight’s Children thinking activity

Introduction :-

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 was screening?

In written 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. Salman Rushdie's novel, Midnight's Children, connects the destiny of one family, and of one character-narrator in particular, with the destiny of India, by symbolically associating Saleem Sinai's birth with that of the new nation. The textual journey that follows plays with concepts such as: margin and centre, identity and otherness, unity and division etc. While witnessing Saleem's changing sense of self, India is also revealed as a stage for the inter-change of multiple perspectives on the idea of nation. Thus, ‘the myth of the nation’ becomes the pretext for the display of postcolonial attitudes and fallacies, due, in part, to its focus on establishing a compact and well-defined sense of identity.

1. Narrative technique (changes made in film adaptation - for eg. absence of Padma, the Nati, the listener, the commenter - What is your interpretation?)

Ans.  

The Midnight Children is Rushdie nove.ln this  novel create some film adaptation. The film’s Canadian-Indian director, Deepa Mehta, blamed “insecure politicians” for its failing to attract a distributor, as the rights have been purchased by 40 other countries. Published in 1981, Midnight’s Children follows the life of a boy born at the exact moment when India gained independence from Britain, and through the 1975-77 period known in India as “The Emergency”, when prime minister Indira Gandhi effectively suspended democracy and was able to rule by decree.

In the novel :

Salman Rushdie  is Narrator 

Padama is listener.

In the movie adaptation :both visuals things...

Saleem is narrator.

Audience are listener.

In the movie Midnight Children movie adaptation, the audience is kept as an actress instead of Padama. Padama is main role of the novel. She was listen to all story novel. But in movie adaptation creater are Chang. Director leave to Padama  and she's role attended in the listener and the commenter. So this things is represented of the watch the movie at that time most important things. You are read the novel and watch the movie  that time narrative technique are different.And the audience watch the movie so he is a listener and  commenter. So he is a Padama of any audience, watch the movie.

In the novel salim as narrator. So question the narrator and doubt the narrator at that time Padama helps. But in the helpless and mute audience are lost they are voiceless. Audience are only mute observer, they are not speak. So Padama is important character of the novel and she is left out the film adaptation.

 2. Characters (how many included, how many left out - Why? What is your interpretation?)

Ans.

Midnight children novel in the so many characters. But in the movie adaptation very few characters  There are some characters are included or some are left out from the film. Original book consists of more than 89 characters and in the film only 26 characters are included.  ‘Midnight’s Children’ by Rushdie  is a very interesting book and it consists of box within box technique. Three books consist of lots of stories and in film adaptation it will be hard to include each and everything and mentioning every story is hard. So in the film adaptation there is only the main story of our protagonist.

 3. Themes and Symbols (if film adaptation able to capture themes and symbols?)

Time and History :

The Perforated sheet :

Marrge and love :

Changing child identity :

Poor and Rich as a social structure :

Sex and women:

Thus the main concerns of the novelist are the problems of women such as loss of individuality and connecting their marriage and sex to man’s honour. The connection between marriage and social norms is responsible for the failure of marital relations. It is evident from the courtship and marriage of Saleem’s grand-parents (Naseem-Adam) and Saleem’s parents (Amina-Ahmed).

Magic and meeting :

The magical powers of the Midnight childrens in this novel. The next theme of the novel is the technique of magic realism. It was later used to represent the work of certain Latin American writers. Afterwards, this technique is made use of by reputed novelists like Gunther Grass and Salman Rushdie. The essence of a magic realist novel is that fantastical elements take place but they never occur in reality. The characters accept the presence of magical elements. Magic and realism take place separately but at the same time they are incorporated together.

The silver spitton :

The Pickl :

4. The texture of the novel (What is the texture of the novel? Well, it is the interconnectedness of narrative technique with the theme. Is it well captured?)

Ans.

Midnight’s children’ consist the theme like  The Single and the Many The Unreliability of Memory and Narrative Destruction vs. Creation.We see the good attempt by Salman Rushdie and Deepa Mehta. 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. Whole story is told by Salim. And he described the things that he felt. This is my interpretation of the novel and film adaptation. Well some symbols are used very closely in some movies, like Taj Mahal. But Salman Rushdie and Deepa Mehta haven't took very close up scene of Taj Mahal. That we can see in the movie.

 5. What is your aesthetic experience after watching the screening?

Ans.

My experience after watching this movie is very good, as there are a lot of events in this movie that are woven with real life.  This movie tries to show what the situation was like with imagination and history.  Speaking out against politics was a big challenge. Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi at that time.  It was not an easy task but writing such a novel in the face of politics at that time was a big challenge.  Which Salman Rushdie has done.  Salman's midnight children novels have become very popular. This novel tells the same story but the way of telling the story changes.  So like reading this novel.  There is a lot of adaptation in the film so I love watching this film.