Salman Rushdie might visit India for `Midnight`s Children` promotion

New Delhi: Controversial author Salman Rushdie may fly down to India towards February-end to promote the film adaptation of his Booker Prize-winning novel "Midnight`s Children", says the movie`s director Deepa Mehta.

"I am sure he is coming. I was told by PVR Pictures (the movie`s distributors), that he will be here for the publicity of the film a week before it opens in theatres. That will be nice," Mehta told IANS here Wednesday. Mehta, who is based in Canada, says Rushdie describes the book as his "love letter to India", and he will be more than happy to talk about it with the people. "He talks about the film amazingly. I sort of get shy about it, but he loves the movie, and loves talking about it. It is really sweet," said the Indo-Canadian filmmaker, who admits Rushdie is "satisfied" with the movie. Rushdie, who visited India in March this year, was earlier stopped from attending the Jaipur Literature Festival in January for the fear of protests regarding his controversial book "The Satanic Verses". But as Mehta indicates, he is excited about coming here for "Midnight`s Children". The author himself turned the 600-page book into a screenplay. "He wasn`t too keen on doing it initially. He felt that since he had written the novel, I should just run with it. But with a novel, which was 600 pages long, I needed somebody, who would not get intimidated by the process of elimination," she said here. "It was an important process to have a screenplay writer who would not be intimidated by the fact that it was a Booker Prize-winning novel... so when Salman agreed to do it, I was very relieved. "It was a great experience to work with him. Salman has an incredible sense of humour and he is also very cinematic. So, the visual style of telling the film, became something to marvel at. I had a marvellous time working with him," she added. The release date of "Midnight`s Children" is yet to be locked, but it will be released in India by PVR Pictures sometime in February 2013. IANS