The film features an ensemble cast of Satya Bhabha, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Ronit Roy, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Seema Biswas, Shahana Goswami, Samrat Chakrabarti, Rahul Bose, Soha Ali Khan, Anita Majumdar and Darsheel Safary.
With a screenplay by Rushdie and directed by Deepa Mehta,[7] the film began principal photography in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in February 2011 and wrapped in May 2011.
His narrative then jumps back to 1917 Kashmir where his grandfather Dr. Aadam Aziz goes to the Ghani mansion to assess the landlord's sick daughter Nasim, whom the doctor eventually marries.
Then the film jumps to Agra in 1942, where Saleem describes his grandfather as contracting a 'disease of optimism' of those times and being an ardent supporter of politician Mian Abdullah.
The two marry and move to Bombay where they buy a villa from wealthy Englishman William Methwold, and Mumtaz takes up a new name, Amina Sinai.
However a nurse Mary, driven by love for her revolutionary partner, decides to switch the name tags of the two rich and poor infants, altering their fates.
He grows distraught by the divisions in the conference caused by the loss of innocence and the seeping of language and class differences amongst the members, and he disbands it.
Saleem says he will raise it as his own son and the baby, named Aadam, becomes one of many forming the next generation of magical children being born at the moment of the declaration of Emergency by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Gandhi, an ardent believer in horoscopes, is advised that the Midnight's Children have powers that are a threat to her supremacy, and so under the guise of a sterilisation programme she orders their incarceration.
The Emergency ends when the PM is defeated in an election, the children are all simultaneously released (the guards all having abandoned the complex into the night) and Shiva dies in a road accident as he attempts to flee the country pursued by authorities for his crimes.
[18] Irrfan Khan was also forced to pull out due to conflicts with Life of Pi[19] and Nandita Das opted out of the film after she had her first child.
[21] Principal shooting began in February 2011 in Colombo, Sri Lanka as Mehta feared protests by Muslim fundamentalists if the film was shot in Pakistan and by Indian National Congress & Gandhi family loyalists[22] if it was made in Mumbai.
Shooting was briefly interrupted when Iran complained to the Sri Lanka government about the film and the crew was ordered to halt production.
"[29] Nishi Tiwari for Rediff.com gave 3/5 stars and said: "Midnight's Children is a must watch for people who’ve yearned to experience Salman Rushdie iconic storytelling in a more accessible format.
The website's critical consensus states that "Though Midnight's Children is beautiful to look at and poignant in spots, its script is too indulgent and Deepa Mehta's direction, though ambitious, fails to bring the story together cohesively.
"[31] Reviews include: "There are some beautiful moments and some decent performances, but it's also something of a slog and ultimately fails to engage on an emotional level",[32] "There's enough here to entertain - and to send audiences back to the book",[33] and "Watchable without ever feeling essential.