Winds of Change (upcoming film)
Encyclopedia
Midnight's Children is an upcoming film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel of the same name
. Written and directed by Deepa Mehta
, the film features an ensemble cast
of Satya Bhabha, Shriya Saran
, Anupam Kher
, Shabana Azmi
, Seema Biswas
, Shahana Goswami
, Samrat Chakrabarti
, Rahul Bose
, Anita Majumdar and Darsheel Safary
. It is scheduled to release in late 2012.
The film began principal photography in Colombo
, Sri Lanka
in February 2011 and wrapped in May 2011. Shooting was kept a secret as Mehta feared protests by Islamic fundamentalist
groups.
, but she eventually decided on Midnight's Children instead. Rushdie spent the next two years paring down the 600-page book into a 130-page script.
The casting process began in early 2010. For the role of the protagonist Saleem Sinai Mehta wanted Imran Khan
, but his salary was outside of the film's budget. She decided to cast British actor Satya Bhabha instead after seeing video of him performing in a play. Kangna Ranaut
and Rani Mukerji
were originally cast as Emerald and Amina, but both had to be replaced due to scheduling conflicts. Irrfan Khan was also forced to pull out due to conflicts with Life of Pi
and Nandita Das
opted out of the film after she had her first child. Rahul Bose
(who had earlier been slated to play Saleem in the BBC
's aborted version of the novel) was selected for the role of Emerald's husband Zulfikar and Shabana Azmi
was cast as Saleem's grandmother Naseem. Shriya Saran
, who worked with Mehta before in Cooking with Stella (2009), will play the role of Saleem's wife Parvati.
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 Hindu fundamentalists
if it was made in Mumbai. Cast members had secrecy clauses added to their contracts to help keep the production quiet. Production design was handled by Mehta's brother Dilip Mehta
. Under his direction, authentic Delhi
-style furniture, props and costumes were shipped in from India. Shooting was briefly interrupted when Iran
complained to the Sri Lanka government about the film and the crew was ordered to halt production. Mehta appealed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa
who agreed to let filming continue. Winds of Change was the working title of the film during the shooting. Filming lasted a total of 69 days from February to May 2011. In all, 800 extras were used.The Film features Sri Lanka's most original vintage cars and the best colonial type residencies in Colombo.
Midnight's Children
Midnight's Children is a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie about India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism...
. Written and directed by Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta, LLD is a Genie Award-winning Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire , Earth , and Water , among which Earth was submitted by Indian government for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film...
, the film features an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
of Satya Bhabha, Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran , also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada...
, Anupam Kher
Anupam Kher
Anupam Kher is an Indian actor who has appeared in nearly 400 films and 100 plays. Though mainly appearing in Bollywood films, he has had roles in some films from other nations as well...
, Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
, Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas
Seema Biswas is an Indian film and theatre actress from Assam who shot into prominence with the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit Queen . She has a reputation for performing strong character roles.Biswas won the 1996 National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the film...
, Shahana Goswami
Shahana Goswami
Shahana Goswami is an Indian actress who works in Bollywood films.-Career:Shahana had a single-minded focus on professional acting since childhood. She moved to Mumbai to complete her graduation and to explore the possibility of taking up acting as a career. In Mumbai, her first steps in acting...
, Samrat Chakrabarti
Samrat Chakrabarti
Samrat Chakrabarti is a British-American actor and musician of Indian descent.-Early life:Born in London, England to immigrant parents from Kolkata, India, he performed in Indian community functions in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was exposed to music, poetry and the plays of Rabindranath...
, Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
, Anita Majumdar and Darsheel Safary
Darsheel Safary
Darsheel Safary is an Indian film actor working in Hindi Bollywood films. He is best known for his acclaimed portrayal of a dyslexic child in the 2007 film Taare Zameen Par.-Taare Zameen Par :...
. It is scheduled to release in late 2012.
The film began principal photography in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in February 2011 and wrapped in May 2011. Shooting was kept a secret as Mehta feared protests by Islamic fundamentalist
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
groups.
Cast
- Satya Bhabha as Saleem SinaiSaleem SinaiSaleem Sinai is the fictional main character in the Booker Prize winning novel Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. His life is closely intertwined with the events that take place in his homeland on the subcontinent of pre- and post-colonial India, Pakistan and newly liberated Bangladesh...
- Shriya SaranShriya SaranShriya Saran , also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada...
as Parvati - Darsheel SafaryDarsheel SafaryDarsheel Safary is an Indian film actor working in Hindi Bollywood films. He is best known for his acclaimed portrayal of a dyslexic child in the 2007 film Taare Zameen Par.-Taare Zameen Par :...
as Saleem Sinai (as a child) - Anupam KherAnupam KherAnupam Kher is an Indian actor who has appeared in nearly 400 films and 100 plays. Though mainly appearing in Bollywood films, he has had roles in some films from other nations as well...
as Ghani - Shabana AzmiShabana AzmiShabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
as Naseem - Seema BiswasSeema BiswasSeema Biswas is an Indian film and theatre actress from Assam who shot into prominence with the role of Phoolan Devi in Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit Queen . She has a reputation for performing strong character roles.Biswas won the 1996 National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the film...
as Mary - Samrat ChakrabartiSamrat ChakrabartiSamrat Chakrabarti is a British-American actor and musician of Indian descent.-Early life:Born in London, England to immigrant parents from Kolkata, India, he performed in Indian community functions in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was exposed to music, poetry and the plays of Rabindranath...
as Wee Willie Winkie - Rajat KapoorRajat KapoorRajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, writer and director born in 1961.Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. As a teenager he would watch films with his family and decided to become a filmmaker at the age of 14. He mainly focused on acting at first...
as Aadam Aziz - Soha Ali KhanSoha Ali Khan- Early life :Khan was born into the erstwhile princely family of Pataudi. She has Muslim Pashtun ancestry through Nawabs of Pataudi lineage from her father's side and Bengali Hindu ancestry from her mother's side...
as Jamila - Rahul BoseRahul BoseRahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
as Zulfikar - Siddharth NarayanSiddharth NarayanSiddharth Suryanaraynan , popularly known and credited as Siddharth, is an Indian film actor, playback singer and screenplay writer. After his business management studies, Siddharth chose to work in film making and worked as an assistant director before making his acting debut in the 2003 Tamil...
as Shiva - Anita Majumdar as Emerald
- Shahana GoswamiShahana GoswamiShahana Goswami is an Indian actress who works in Bollywood films.-Career:Shahana had a single-minded focus on professional acting since childhood. She moved to Mumbai to complete her graduation and to explore the possibility of taking up acting as a career. In Mumbai, her first steps in acting...
as Amina - Chandan Roy SanyalChandan Roy SanyalChandan Roy Sanyal is an Indian actor who has acted in Hindi and Bengali films.-Background:Born and brought up in Delhi, Chandan hails from a Bengali family. Chandan studied at Zakir Husain Collge, DU and has an Honors degree in Mathematics...
as Joseph D'Costa - Ronit RoyRonit RoyRonit Roy is an Indian television and Bollywood actor, known for the roles of Dharamraj Mahiyavanshi, Rishabh Bajaj, Mihir Virani and Aparajit Deb. He is now in the serial Adaalat as KD Pathak. Roy has been referred to as the Amitabh Bachchan of small screen...
as Ahmed Sinai - Kulbhushan KharbandaKulbhushan KharbandaKulbhushan Kharbanda is an Indian actor, who worked in Hindi and Punjabi films, and is known as character Shakaal in Shaan inspired by the character of Blofeld from James Bond movies...
as Picture Singh - Shikha Talsania as Alia
- Zaib ShaikhZaib ShaikhZaib Shaikh is a Canadian actor, writer and director. He is best known for his current roles as Amaar Rashid, an imam in the CBC Television sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, and Jayesh in Metropia, an evening soap opera broadcast on Omni Television....
as Nadir Khan - Sarita ChoudhurySarita ChoudhurySarita Catherine Louise Choudhury is an English actress.-Biography:Choudhury was born in Blackheath, London, England, of half Bengali-Indian and half English descent. Her parents, Prabhas Chandra Choudhury, a scientist, and Julia Patricia Spring, married in 1964 in Lucea, Jamaica...
as The Lady - Vinay PathakVinay PathakVinay Pathak is an Indian actor and a theatre person born and raised in Bhojpur, Bihar. He is known for his great Comic timing and as a revolution in Indian Cinema along with Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapur, Abhay Deol, who are tagged as actors of a new genre...
as Hardy - Ranvir ShoreyRanvir ShoreyRanvir Shorey is an Indian actor and former VJ. Since making his debut in Ek Chotisi Love Story , he has starred in a number of high profile films such as Jism and Lakshya...
as Laurel - Suresh MenonSuresh Menon-Career:Menon has appeared in movies including Phir Hera Pheri, Partner, Fool N Final, Krazzy 4, Deewane Huye Pagal, Chalte Chalte, God Only Knows, Dil To Pagal Hai and Hello. Additionally, he has made an appearance on the television show Comedy Circus...
as Field Marshall - Rajesh KheraRajesh KheraRajesh Khera is an Indian television actor who has acted in many Hindi films, including the role of "Maddy" in Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin.-Filmography:U R My JaanYeh Dooriyan ...... Vishal42 Kms RameshThe Whisperers Mallika Chandar...
Production
In 2008, Mehta and Salman Rushdie decided to collaborate on a film together. At first Mehta wanted to adapt his novel Shalimar the ClownShalimar the Clown
Shalimar the Clown is a 2005 novel written by Salman Rushdie, who also wrote The Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children.Shalimar the Clown was published in September 2005 and has attracted significant attention, comparable to his earlier publications, particularly The Moor's Last Sigh and...
, but she eventually decided on Midnight's Children instead. Rushdie spent the next two years paring down the 600-page book into a 130-page script.
The casting process began in early 2010. For the role of the protagonist Saleem Sinai Mehta wanted Imran Khan
Imran Khan (actor)
Imran Khan is an Indian American film actor. He is the nephew of actor Aamir Khan and producer-director Mansoor Khan.Khan rose to stardom for his debut role in the 2008 blockbuster film Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. The film won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut...
, but his salary was outside of the film's budget. She decided to cast British actor Satya Bhabha instead after seeing video of him performing in a play. Kangna Ranaut
Kangna Ranaut
Kangna Ranaut is an Indian actress who appears mostly in Hindi films. She made her acting debut in 2006 with a leading role in Gangster. She won both a Filmfare and a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a troubled model in Fashion .-Early life:Ranaut was born to...
and Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji is an Indian film actress who works in Hindi movies. In the course of her film career, she has received six Filmfare Awards, among twelve nominations....
were originally cast as Emerald and Amina, but both had to be replaced due to scheduling conflicts. Irrfan Khan was also forced to pull out due to conflicts with Life of Pi
Life of Pi (film)
Life of Pi is an upcoming 3D fantasy adventure film based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Yann Martel. The film is directed by Ang Lee based on an adapted screenplay by David Magee. Suraj Sharma, who has no previous acting experience, will play Pi...
and Nandita Das
Nandita Das
Nandita Das is an award-winning Indian film actress and director. As an actress, she is known for her performances in Fire , Earth , Bawandar , Kannathil Muthamittal and Aamaar Bhuvan . As a director, she is known for her directorial debut Firaaq , which has won a number of national and...
opted out of the film after she had her first child. Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
(who had earlier been slated to play Saleem in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's aborted version of the novel) was selected for the role of Emerald's husband Zulfikar and Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
was cast as Saleem's grandmother Naseem. Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran , also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada...
, who worked with Mehta before in Cooking with Stella (2009), will play the role of Saleem's wife Parvati.
Principal shooting began in February 2011 in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
as Mehta feared protests by Muslim fundamentalists
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
if the film was shot in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and by Hindu fundamentalists
Hindu nationalism
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expressions of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of historical India...
if it was made in Mumbai. Cast members had secrecy clauses added to their contracts to help keep the production quiet. Production design was handled by Mehta's brother Dilip Mehta
Dilip Mehta
Dilip Mehta is a photojournalist and director. Mehta, a Canadian citizen, divides his time between New York City, Delhi and Toronto. His work as a photojournalist has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, National Geographic and Time...
. Under his direction, authentic Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
-style furniture, props and costumes were shipped in from India. Shooting was briefly interrupted when Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
complained to the Sri Lanka government about the film and the crew was ordered to halt production. Mehta appealed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Percy Mahendra "Mahinda" Rajapaksa ; ; born November 18, 1945) is the 6th and current President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and served as prime minister from April 6,...
who agreed to let filming continue. Winds of Change was the working title of the film during the shooting. Filming lasted a total of 69 days from February to May 2011. In all, 800 extras were used.The Film features Sri Lanka's most original vintage cars and the best colonial type residencies in Colombo.