Midnight's Children: Screenplay

by Salman Rushdie

The original stage adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, winner of the 1993 Booker of Bookers, the best book to win the Booker Prize in its first twenty-five years.

In the moments of upheaval that surround the stroke of midnight on August 14--15, 1947, the day India proclaimed its independence from Great Britain, 1,001 children are born--each of whom is gifted with supernatural powers. Midnight’s Children focuses on the fates of two of them--the illegitimate son of a poor Hindu woman and the male heir of a wealthy Muslim family--who become inextricably linked when a midwife switches the boys at birth.

An allegory of modern India, Midnight’s Children is a family saga set against the volatile events of the thirty years following the country’s independence--the partitioning of India and Pakistan, the rule of Indira Gandhi, the onset of violence and war, and the imposition of martial law. It is a magical and haunting tale, of fragmentation and of the struggle for identity and belonging that links personal life with national history.

In collaboration with Simon Reade, Tim Supple and the Royal Shakespeare Society, Salman Rushdie has adapted his masterpiece for the stage.

Genres: Plays, Literature, Theatre

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British and 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. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was quite interesting seeing what changes Rushdie made to adapt such a sprawling novel into a more concise form--in particular, what he left "unsaid" or simplified so as to let visuals tell some of the story instead. All in all, this proves the novel could be filmed very satisfactorily, which I had my doubts about. Can't wait to see the feature-length film when it comes out later this year. Athough it will necessarily be even more condensed than this five-part miniseries, it seems--based on what's in this book--that Rushdie is up to the task.

[Clothears · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw the performance of this at the Barbican 25 January 2003

[T.J. Gillespie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the novel!
I accidentally checked this version out--the adaptation for the stage--instead of the novel proper.

[Jacquline · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best diverse books I have ever read. Rushdie took his original book, Midnight's Children, to bring the book to screen, and although it never made it, the screenplay was written well, like watching the movie in my head. The plot moves quickly, and all the while, there is a mystery to solve. Saleem and Shiva have been switched at birth by Mary. She felt like Saleem was her child because she gave the unfortunate a chance to live in the wealthy world. Little did she know, Saleem suffered a lot because of the switch. He didn't fit in with his family and Ahmed, his father, hated him. He refused to call him his child, even after he found out about the switch. He even made him get a nose job because he hated him so much. Amina, on the other hand, loved Saleem, and that is why she switched the umbilical cords with his sister's because he is the child of her heart. Although the screenplay changed from the original book, it worked well as Rushdie wrote it. I just hope that Rushdie does get his wish that it makes it to the big screens. All I know is that I couldn't put it down when I got started. The wars, the terrible family relationships, and the most important and significant part, the midnight's children. Those children were born at the moment of India's independence, therefore, destining them to great futures. The are also granted with special powers, like Parvati with magic, Shiva with his strong knees, and Saleem with gathering the children to communicate with. At the end of the screenplay, the government wanted to cleanse the country from these children because they are no longer special, even though they represented India's independence. Many members of Saleem's family dies, leaving him utterly alone. He even lost his wife and almost lost his child until he fall safe back with Mary, meeting Padma who wants to marry him. But, Saleem knows that he won't live a moment longer because he is now done telling his story. Lastly, I would like to mention Saleem's child, who is technically Shiva's blood, Little Aadam, named after his grandfather. Little Aadam as born at midnight, another significant time for India. All the children who were born at midnight during great events went unappreciated in the novel, showing how hard it is to get by, even if one is privileged. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a diverse book with a beautifully written story.

[Olivia Mainville · Rating 2 out of 5]

Technically I was hoping to read the novel by the time I went to see the movie but the library only had the play available so I settled for that. This is the story of the magical children born in the first hour of India’s Independence from Britain on August 15, 1947, most particularly two boys who are deliberately switched at birth. I’m not a big fan of reading stage directions so I found this play to be especially confusing, what with the constant scene and setting changes. Having read “The Satanic Verses” already I was familiar with Rushdie’s writing style, especially his attention to accented dialogue and the quirks he gives to characters, like Saleem’s magical power that’s controlled by his sniffling nose. I feel I’ll enjoy the book better. The film was good, however not surprisingly long and sad.

Check out my 2012 book reviews @ www.oliviamainville.com

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review is not for the original novel Midnight's Children, which is a towering masterpiece and one of the great novels of the late 20th century. This review is for the stage play adaptation of Midnight's Children. The play has some dramatically effective moments, but is basically just a highly abbreviated summary of the novel. Half the fun of reading Midnight's Children is its dense web of references and keywords and foreshadowing and flashbacks, and that aspect of the novel is mostly absent from the play. It's the kind of adaptation whose primary virtue is that it reminds you how much better the original work was.

Note that Goodreads incorrectly lists this as an edition of Midnight's Children.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a stage adaptation of Rushdie's acclaimed novel of the same name (I didn't realize that when I reserved it but hey, I decided to read it anyway). It's a fantastical tale of fate, magic, class, family, religion and how they intersect with the history of a country as it tears in to three. Parts of it are brilliant language and story-wise and it wraps up rather well, but there's so many characters, whose relationships overlap and fall in and out of the story, that it was hard to follow and keep track of it all at times, but overall, this was still good. Now I really do want to read the actual novel!

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first experience reading Rushdie. I didn't read the novel that this play was adapted from nor did I see the film and TV show. I enjoyed the story, history, characters (there are so many at times it was difficult to keep track of who was who).

[Zac Sigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read Rushdie's original work, too much of the interaction of the members of the MCC has been left out, at least for my taste. Also, the last few settings (magician's ghetto, prison, pickle factory) seem very rushed. That said, nothing written by or inspired by Salman Rushdie can be bad, hence the 3 stars.

[Justin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I accidentally read this version instead of the original novel (and only realized this after finishing). >_< I blame the library's ebook website. This version I found very difficult to follow. I'm kind of upset I read it because now the original novel won't be fresh.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to see this staged, and it's interesting to see how such a sprawling novel is condensed, but it kept making me wish I was rereading the novel instead.