Noted filmmaker, Deepa Mehta, known for issue-based movies, will produce and direct a film from the 600-page script she will co-write with Salman Rushdie, based on the writer's prize-winning novel 'Midnight's Children'.

The novel, published in 1981, is the fictional story of Saleem Sinai, one of the 1001 children born at the stroke of midnight on 15 August, 1947, the moment of India's independence. The allegorical story is about the inextricably linked fates of two children in a Bombay hospital, with the birth pangs of a new country, its communal tensions and internal decay.

Mehta said in a statement: "In literature there are only a handful of characters that remain indelible in my mind. On top of my list is Saleem, the protagonist of Salman Rushdie's brilliant novel 'Midnight's Children'."

She will take up the 'Midnight's Children' project - with stars like Shabana Azmi, Seema Biswas and Nandita Das - only after the completion of her big budget film 'Komagata Maru.'

Rushdie says he is passionate about the idea of the film project, particularly because of the endearing appeal of the novel. He said the appeal has "absolutely refused to go away," even though he began writing the novel 31 years ago, and had it published four years later. The novel was declared the 'Booker of Bookers' last year.

He said the movie has to be "Deepa's vision," adding: "The film always belongs to the director. She has to create the architecture for the film, tell me what she wants to be in it."