This Article is From Jan 10, 2013

Salman Rushdie sold Midnight's Children rights to Deepa Mehta for a dollar

Salman Rushdie sold Midnight's Children rights to Deepa Mehta for a dollar

Recalling this interesting anecdote, Ms Mehta says the deal between the two was spontaneous

Highlights

  • As it's said, big ideas come out of the smallest and most casual conversations. And that's what happened when Deepa Mehta and Salman Rushdie sat across for dinner four years ago. In a general conversation when the acclaimed filmmaker inquired about the film rights of Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie happily gave them to her. Not only that, he gave it away in exchange for just one dollar!
  • Recalling this interesting anecdote, Ms Mehta says the deal between the two was spontaneous. "Salman and I often talked about working together. One night, over dinner, I asked him who had the rights to Midnight's Children. He said he did so I asked him whether I could buy them and he promptly sold the option to me for one dollar. It was not premeditated; it was just gut instinct," says the Oscar-nominated director.
  • Incidentally, Salman was not very keen in the beginning about adapting the book for the screen himself but Deepa used her persuasive powers to convince him to write the screenplay. Although he has been involved with a short film and a TV series in the past, this film marks his debut for a feature film.
  • "He did a brilliant job and I'm more than happy that I asked him to do it," sums up Ms Deepa.
Mumbai: As it's said, big ideas come out of the smallest and most casual conversations. And that's what happened when Deepa Mehta and Salman Rushdie sat across for dinner four years ago. In a general conversation when the acclaimed filmmaker inquired about the film rights of Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie happily gave them to her. Not only that, he gave it away in exchange for just one dollar!

Recalling this interesting anecdote, Ms Mehta says the deal between the two was spontaneous. "Salman and I often talked about working together. One night, over dinner, I asked him who had the rights to Midnight's Children. He said he did so I asked him whether I could buy them and he promptly sold the option to me for one dollar. It was not premeditated; it was just gut instinct," says the Oscar-nominated director.

Incidentally, Salman was not very keen in the beginning about adapting the book for the screen himself but Deepa used her persuasive powers to convince him to write the screenplay. Although he has been involved with a short film and a TV series in the past, this film marks his debut for a feature film.

"He did a brilliant job and I'm more than happy that I asked him to do it," sums up Ms Deepa.
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