Netflix Announces Vishal Bhardwaj as Showrunner for Midnight's Children

Netflix India on Wednesday announced that popular Indian filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj will be the showrunner for series Midnight's Children that will stream exclusively on Netflix soon. The upcoming series will be based on author Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel by the same name. Considered an example of postcolonial, postmodern, and magic realist literature, Rushdie's Midnight's Children shows the story of India's transition from British colonialist period to independence. The cast and release date for Netflix's upcoming Midnight's Children series have not been revealed yet.

Vishal Bhardwaj is a celebrated Indian director, writer, producer, and music director known for films such as Haider, Omkara, Maqbool, and The Blue Umbrella, all of which are adaptations of popular plays or novels. This feat makes him best suited for bringing Rushdie's bestseller to life in the form of a Web series. However, this isn't the first time that Midnight's Children is being translated for the screen. Deepa Mehta's 2012 film with the same name had its screenplay written by Rushdie himself.

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children novel won him a Booker Prize in 1981. At the announcement of his book's adaptation as a Netflix series back in June this year, the novelist said, “I am absolutely delighted that Midnight's Children will have a new life on Netflix, and greatly look forward to working with them to help create it.”

Vishal Bhardwaj on the latest development said, “The opportunity to translate one of the greatest works of literature in a medium that is accessible to millions of people around the world is incredible, and I'm delighted to partner with Netflix in bringing Midnight's Children to life on screen. I'm confident that taking this quintessentially Indian epic that transcends generations and genres, combined with the production values and creative freedom that Netflix offers, will contribute to an unforgettable series that is Indian at heart and global in reach.”

Midnight's Children is part of the long list of Netflix Originals in the pipeline for the Indian market. Other upcoming series include Typewriter, Baahubali: Before the Beginning - a prequel to the movie, and Leila.

Netflix has been on the front foot when it comes to quality Indian content ever since it launched in the country back in early 2016. Shows like Sacred Games and Ghoul, anthology movies like Lust Stories, and movies like Love Per Square Foot and Rajma Chawal have accelerated popularity for the platform among premium content subscribers in India.