Salman Rushdie idea, just one shot in which three very, very unlikely people were seen as NASCAR drivers. And I think they approached Julian Schnabel, Lou Reed, and me. We were all supposed to be wearing the uniforms and the helmet, walking in slow motion with the heat haze." In the end their schedules didn't allow for it. Rushdie collaborated on the screenplay for the cinematic adaptation of his novel "Midnight's Children" with director Deepa Mehta. The film was also called "Midnight's Children". Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, and Irrfan Khan participated in the film. Production began in September 2010; the
Salman Rushdie him. Police contended that they were afraid Rushdie would read from the banned "The Satanic Verses", and that the threat was real, considering imminent protests by Muslim organizations. Meanwhile, Indian authors Ruchir Joshi, Jeet Thayil, Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar abruptly left the festival, and Jaipur, after reading excerpts from Rushdie's banned novel at the festival. The four were urged to leave by organizers as there was a real possibility they would be arrested. In India the import of the book is banned via customs. A proposed video link session between Rushdie and the Jaipur Literature Festival was also cancelled