Salman Rushdie says making him the narrator of Midnight's Children was Deepa Mehta's idea
New Delhi:
Salman Rushdie says it wasflattering to get the offer to narrate his own novelMidnight's Children on the big screen but he was "nervous"about spoiling the film.
The Booker-prize-winning author, 65, who has also writtenthe script for the Deepa Mehta directed movie, says thedecision to have his voice-over came late.
"I did not decide to become the narrator. It was Deepa'sidea. I did not want to do it. We tried to make the filmwithout a narration but it was only when we began assemblingthe film that we felt a voiceover was needed," Rushdie said ata press meet last night.
"Deepa tried two actors but in the end told me 'youshould do it'. It was very flattering but it also made menervous because I did not want to be the one amateurish thingthat spoils the film. I thought if it really embarrasses me,I had the right to fire myself. I went into it with thatkind of spirit," Rushdie said at the event, organised byLandmark and PVR.
The making of the film has been an interesting journey initself and Mehta, who accompanied the author, recalled howthey lost a cobra while shooting the film in Sri Lanka."We had 12 main characters, thousands of extras, someanimals including an elephant and four cobras. Actually, welost one baby cobra, we found only three. It is still outthere somewhere," said Mehta.
The novel is getting a movie adaptation, 30 years afterit was first published. Rushdie said that there was anotherattempt to turn the novel into a film but it did not work out.The author says he was "pretty ruthless" when it came toremoving chunks of the novel to fit the story in two hours.
"There are many parts of the novel and characters whichwere not essential to the central story. That was thequestion. What's the essential storyline of the movie?"It is very difficult with Midnight's Children because,it is deliberately a very digressive novel. We sacrificed alot of stuff. We had to delete some very good scenes also."
The film starring Satya Bhaba, Siddharth, Shriya Saran,Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Rajat Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda,Soha Ali Khan and Seema Biswas, will release on February 1.
The Booker-prize-winning author, 65, who has also writtenthe script for the Deepa Mehta directed movie, says thedecision to have his voice-over came late.
"I did not decide to become the narrator. It was Deepa'sidea. I did not want to do it. We tried to make the filmwithout a narration but it was only when we began assemblingthe film that we felt a voiceover was needed," Rushdie said ata press meet last night.
"Deepa tried two actors but in the end told me 'youshould do it'. It was very flattering but it also made menervous because I did not want to be the one amateurish thingthat spoils the film. I thought if it really embarrasses me,I had the right to fire myself. I went into it with thatkind of spirit," Rushdie said at the event, organised byLandmark and PVR.
The making of the film has been an interesting journey initself and Mehta, who accompanied the author, recalled howthey lost a cobra while shooting the film in Sri Lanka."We had 12 main characters, thousands of extras, someanimals including an elephant and four cobras. Actually, welost one baby cobra, we found only three. It is still outthere somewhere," said Mehta.
The novel is getting a movie adaptation, 30 years afterit was first published. Rushdie said that there was anotherattempt to turn the novel into a film but it did not work out.The author says he was "pretty ruthless" when it came toremoving chunks of the novel to fit the story in two hours.
"There are many parts of the novel and characters whichwere not essential to the central story. That was thequestion. What's the essential storyline of the movie?"It is very difficult with Midnight's Children because,it is deliberately a very digressive novel. We sacrificed alot of stuff. We had to delete some very good scenes also."
The film starring Satya Bhaba, Siddharth, Shriya Saran,Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Rajat Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda,Soha Ali Khan and Seema Biswas, will release on February 1.
