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Overrated

Nice effects though.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Went into the theaters not knowing what the film was about. Came out pretty satisfied with midnight's children. Movie was about India gaining independence, and the children born at midnight. Movie had a dash, of drama, suspense, romance , and comedy. The only minus was the length. A well made film with great actors out of the whole i really enjoyed siddarths and shriya sarans performance.. Recommenced for people who want to watch something that is different then the regular mill of film, this film is very different and touches on many subjects that have occurred in India in there past and present history. A highly recommended watch!!!!

I haven't read the book. I have heard a lot about it, though. I got an opportunity to watch it & it was magnificent. So, this review will more connect with people who HAVEN'T READ THE "BOOKER OF BOOKERS!"Deepa Mehta's magic works once again after her Elements Trilogy. The topics were bold then. Now the topic is diverse - mostly because with a fountain of genres, Midnight's Children talks about many things... from love to superstitions, from the Partition to the Emergency, from magic to realism... narrated so wonderfully, it enthuses. The last 20 minutes are little boring & staid but the first 100 minutes makes up for a good show.Performances are brilliant with every single person working beautifully & totally carving a splendid character out of Rusdhie's imagination. Ronit Roy, Bhabha, Goswami, Darsheel Zafary & Rahul Bose are terrific. Music is amusing, screenplay is good and the locations are so genuine with no anachronisms at all, MC marks as another super-hit by the Deepa-Hamilton duo. Certain sequences/ideologies troubled me but since it is all fiction encapsulated in a narrative, I quite enjoyed it. Depiction of sensitive topics is great which is not unusual in a Deepa Mehta film. A lot could be written about it and the best way to know all about it is to watch it.The tale from the 1940s to the 1970s, with certain twists & turns, beautiful ideas, relationships, empathy, violence, real topics, age- transitions, fights, superstitions, sex, infidelity tiny tidbits and the magic... is enduring. 8.2/10!BOTTOM LINE: Quite a good, charismatic watch. Not Deepa's magnum opus, though.MESSAGE: Liberty doesn't come cheap.Can be watched with a typical Indian family? MAYBE NO.Profanity: Mild | Nudity: No | Sex: Mediocre | Violence: Critical | Gore: Critical | Alcohol: Strong | Smoking: Mild | Drugs: No

With Rushdie having written the screenplay and being heavily involved, comments about faithfulness to the book are moot; also, the book is quite stylised and far too dense with detail to be easily converted.So the biggest problems are thus:* Technical atrocities * Clichés layered on thick * Terrible comedic timingFirstly, the camera work is all over the shop. Hand-held DSLRs are wonderful bits of technology, but camera shake at certain moments of action is confusing, and a bit shoddy. It doesn't help the pace of the film, which changes at strange intervals. Secondly, the compositions are banal. It's like they used iStockPhoto for storyboarding, and stuck every visual cliché about India into the shots.Thirdly, there are moments in the film ripe for black comedy where there is none, and moments where comedy is just jarring. If you're going to mess with established concepts in the audiences' minds, it had better mean something. There is far too much throwaway material in the film.And it's a long one, at 146 minutes, and could have been much shorter, with more energy, better pace, and of higher quality throughout. To the film's credit, there are production elements very well done; the use of children and animals, you'll be startled to hear, are handled brilliantly. But it's not really enough. It may be just that Salman Rushdie would have been better supervising the screenplay rather than writing it himself, and the film could use a complete re-edit, but it is what it is.

Only occasionally does a movie portray a culture in a time and place that truly succeeds in giving you a sense of what it was like there. I think of Like Water for Chocolate for example. I was totally blown away by this film's ability to somehow transport me back to India, capturing all the craziness, the colours, the confusion, the sensibilities.... I only spent six weeks there but my son who worked there for a year and a half agreed with me. I think that it is a very unusual film for western viewers. The symbolism is so important and rich. We are not watching individuals at all but characters who represent elements of the country that the writer and director are passionate about. The pace and length is absolutely essential to get the feel of how vast the story is. The camera-work is breathtaking, the music is absolutely authentic, I felt that I could even smell India again. I noticed that the reviews by western critics were mostly negative while those from India were the opposite. If you want to enjoy this film, leave your western film expectations at home and come with an openness to a different way of seeing, learning and experiencing. I will encourage everyone I know to treat themselves to this wonderful film.