Congress leaders say Mehta's Midnight's Children shows Indira Gandhi in poor light

Indian-origin Hollywood filmmaker Deepa Mehta's filmMidnight's Children, which was premiered here Monday night as part of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), has landed itself in a political row. According to leaders of the Kerala’s ruling Congress party, the film shows former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in poor light and should not have been screened in a Congress-ruled state.

State Cinema Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar's estranged father and former Kerala minister R. Balakrishna Pillai started the row saying, "This should not have been allowed to be screened because Indira Gandhi is a passion for many and the minister should take up the responsibility for this mess".

Another Congress leader and former minister Pandalam Sudhakran said, "The film shows our country in poor light and this is not acceptable”. The film is an adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel of the same name and features Satya Bhabha, Siddharth, Ronit Roy, Rahul Bose, Anupam Kher, Darsheel Safary, Soha Ali Khan and Shabana Azmi.