‘I don’t expect any trouble’

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Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children is set to release in India early next year. The film, based on Salman Rushdie’s famous novel, will premiere at the International Film Festival of Kerala today. Why did she pick this novel to adapt to screen? “Its complexity, depth, cinematic prose, humour and originality drew me.

It was unlike anything I had ever read. It very much changed the game for Indian literature.”
While Deepa’s name is enough to make the moral police in this country clench their fists (and Rushdie’s proposed participation in the Jaipur Literary Festival earlier this year drawing the ire of certain groups), she isn’t worried about any adverse reactions to the film’s screening in Kerala. “I don’t expect any trouble, no. What happened with Jaipur was unfortunate, to say the least. It is a shame that threats and controversy continue to interfere with an artist and their work, but c’est la vie. If there is ever a question of safety, that obviously becomes the first priority. However, I think the particular timing of Jaipur heightened the safety concerns, but I don’t expect anything but celebration and positivity at Kerala. I’m looking forward to audiences in India to finally see the film.”