Midnight's Children Movie review

Ratings:3/5 Review By: Nishi Tiwari Site: Rediff

Unlike the book, Mehta's Midnight's Children follows a linear narrative and makes for an engaging, tightly written first half. There are only two jarring characters in an otherwise good lineup of actors -- Rahul Bose's Zulfikar and Sathya Bhabha's Saleem Sinai. The film's second half succeeds in the sense that it makes us despair a bit -- all the good things that the first half promises don't really materialise in the second, much like the disillusioned Saleem and empty hopes of post-Independence era India. What you get for the bargain is a hauntingly melodious background score and magical shots of celebratory fireworks, moving snapshots from a war-ravaged Bangladesh and Saleem dancing to Aao twist karen with younger sister Jamila. Midnight's Children is a must watch for people who've yearned to experience Salman Rushdie's iconic storytelling in a more accessible format.

Ratings:2.5/5 Review By: Shubhra Gupta Site: Indian Express

The film , whose screenplay has been written by Booker-winner author Rushdie himself, is not half as magical as the novel. It's easy to see how hard it would be to condense a big fat door stopper of a tale into a two-and-a-half hour movie. If you are a fan of the novel, you might find too many gaps in the film; even otherwise, for those who haven't either read the book, or are in love with it, it lags. The problem is in the writing : it leaches out the joyous, knowing quirkiness of the authorial voice, and makes it bland.Some of the film leaps off the screen, but only some. To match up to the book, the film needed more whimsy, more magic.

Ratings:2.5/5 Review By: IANS Site: NDTV

Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children is not a well-crafted film of Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. Yet it captures the essence of the novel to the core. Even with Salman Rushdie's narration and screenplay, what probably did not work for Midnight's Children are the abrupt scenes. Each scene is brilliant, but in silos, disconnected with the next, making it difficult to capture and bring to life the essence of the book that combines a type of unexplained practicality.Yet this is a striking, well-produced and thoughtfully designed epic. Even with all its flaws, Midnight's Children is worth a watch. If nothing else, go and watch Midnight's Children to satiate your curiosity about this much-talked about novel.

Ratings:1.5/5 Review By: Roshni Devi Site: Koimoi

What’s Good: The cinematography; the music; some performances. What’s Bad: The lead actors’ performances; the befuddled screenplay that does no justice to the book; bad characterizations. Loo break: More so in the second half. Watch or Not?: Watch it only for the visual artistry; otherwise the magic is missing in this one.