I was expecting problem for 'Midnight's Children': Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta, whose earliers films "Fire", "Water" and "1947 Earth" got into a severe censorial crisis, is pinching herself in disbelief over the all clear that her latest film "Midnight's Children" was given by the Central Board of Film Certification in India.

The film, an adaptation of controversial author Salman Rushdie's 1980 Booker Prize-winning book of the same name, was cleared by the censors Wednesday, without a single cut.

Mehta, who was all set for a prolonged battle to preserve her footage from any sign of desecration, is over the moon.

"After the unnecessary controversies, I was kind of expecting some kind of problem. But the censor board was exceptionally fair. They didn't cut a single shot of my film," she said.

"Of course they gave it an 'A' certificate. That's fine. 'Midnight's Children' is not meant for children. But the fact that an adult audience is being treated as a mature viewership is a sign of the changes that are creeping slowly but surely into the Indian socio-political framework," she added.

Now after the censorial clearance, PVR Pictures, the Indian distributors of "Midnight's Children" are said to have decided to dub the film into Hindi before its release towards January 2013 end.

To this, Mehta said: "I leave these matters to my very capable distributors. I am just happy that my film would be seen uncut in India."