Street singer (Samrat Chakrabarti)
Adversaries Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha) and Shiva (Siddharth)
Saleem with Parvati (Shriya Saran)
By Raj S. Rangarajan *
India’s independence on August 15, 1947 is revisited by Man Booker Prize winning novelist Salman Rushdie’s story, Midnight’s Children that is now a movie. Directed by Toronto-based Deepa Mehta, and adapted and narrated by Rushdie, the film has received mixed reviews in North America and in other parts of the world.
Thanks to the names associated with the film and the buildup, one expected more from the film. Sometimes, filming fiction by an erudite writer could be frustrating. The film starts loftily but soon, in predictably formulaic pattern deteriorates into the mediocre, while being surprisingly spectacular. After Water and Fire one expected more out of Mehta.
As India declares independence from Great Britain on August 15, 1947 (Rushie calls it India’s remake of American independence), two male babies are switched at birth at midnight in a hospital in Bombay by Mary the midwife (Seema Biswas, Patang, Water directed by Deepa Mehta) with questionable loyalties toward the wealthy. The boys are Saleem and Shiva and, born seven seconds after midnight was Parvati (Shriya Saran,Sivaji: The Boss).
Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha, debutant in a feature film) and Shiva (Siddharth Rang de Basanti) are destined to live in differing worlds – one in a fancy home with an automobile and the other forced to earn a living as a street performer. Female lead Parvati, who is friendly with both the boys, displays magical abilities and the word “abracadabra” is a staple in the film.
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MIDNIGHT CHILDREN’s GREEN CHUTNEY
Mary’s bright “grasshopper green” chutney is a Proustian unifying memory for Saleem and the trigger for his exploration of the past, “The taste of the chutney was more than just an echo of that long-ago taste – it was the old taste itself, the very same, with the power of bringing back the past as if it had never been away...Once again an abracadabra, an open-sesame: words printed on a chutney-jar, opening the last door of my life.”
The “chutnification of history” is a way to retrieve and interpret memory. On the last pages of the novel Saleem describes this, with the same words as the movie’s ending, “One day, perhaps, the world may taste the pickles of history. They may be too strong for some palates, their smell may be overpowering, tears may rise to eyes; I hope nevertheless that it will be possible to say of them that they possess the authentic taste of truth...that they are despite everything, acts of love.”
Saleem’s memories of his childhood and of home are wrapped up in his ayah Mary’s green chutney throughout Midnight’s Children. The bright green condiment is always on the table, and served with every meal, including breakfast. When Mary consoles the young Saleem in the hospital after the startling revelations of his “bad blood”, she promises him “all the chutney in the world”. On Saleem’s lonely first night in his aunt Emerald’s household, he has a photo of Mary and a jar of her chutney on his bedside table: his only comforts. And when Mary meets teenage Saleem at the Karachi train station when he returns from exile, the first thing Mary offers to do for him is to make his favourite chutney. And of course the discovery of Mrs. Braganza’s bottled chutney is...well, momentous. As Saleem says in his voiceover, narrated by Salman Rushdie, “Sometimes emotions are stirred into food and become what you feel. And sometimes people leak into each other, like flavours when you cook.”
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Because of a bronchial condition that is not explained, Saleem is able to see and talk with all the other 500 odd surviving children that were born in India (August 15) on that fateful night. In the assemblage are hot-tempered Shiva and the pretty witch Parvati.
Over a 30-year period, the connection between Saleem’s and Shiva’s lives unravel with class divisions about the privileged and the poor, jealousy and rage, heartbreak and hope, about intrigue and the emotion of feeling entitled. Saleem, a victim of amnesia, acts genuinely confused and is as complex as the movie.
Shiva, now a ruthless military commander meets Saleem in a confrontation while Parvati tries to seduce Shiva. Wee Willie Winkie (Samrat Chakrabarti Viswaroopam), as a street singer, adds comedic elements to his musical repertoire. Cameraman Giles Nuttgens has a field day capturing the kaleidoscope aspects of the theme. Rushdie’s screenplay carries passion with his story vividly bringing home the historic event that was attendant with societal problems of the day whatever one’s station in life.
Saleem’s favorite chutney -- a specialty that Mary, the former nurse -- now a maid with the Sinai household -- used to prepare comes up as a reminiscent detail. (See separate box on Midnight Children’s Green Chutney.)
Commenting on the novel, written decades ago, film director Deepa Mehta says: “It is a coming-of-age story, full of the trials and tribulations of growing up, and of the terrible weight of expectations. What separates it from other thematically similar films is that the story is not only about a boy but also about his country, both born at the very same time at a pivotal point in Indian history. Saleem’s journey as our vulnerable, misguided hero is always intertwined with the struggles of the newly independent India, as it finds its own voice in the world.”
For the stats-minded, the film (running time: 140 minutes) covers four generations over five distinct time periods and three wars. It was shot in 65 locations in India and Sri Lanka in 70 days, and has 127 speaking parts.
Appearing on John Stewart’s Daily Show recently Rushdie said, considering that Bombay has been more far-reaching than Hollywood in terms of numbers of films made, instead of Bollywood, the place should be called “Hombay” as Mumbai’s film headquarters.
Mehta adds: “collaborating with Rushdie on this film project was pure delight and we were in sync since Salman and I were both from the Indian diaspora with intertwined roots in India?”
* Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, reviews books and films for media based in New York; Toronto, Canada; and India. He can be reached atraj.rangarajan@gmail.com
