MUMBAI: After a lot of suspense around its release, PVR Pictures has acquired the distribution rights of Deepa Mehta‘s Midnight‘s Children based on Salman Rushdie‘s 1981 novel by the same name. The film is now being readied for release in India in December. The film was earlier mired with fears that it would not find a distributor in the country where it is set.

Commenting on the acquisition and release of the film, PVR CEO Kamal Gianchandani said, "We‘re looking at releasing the film in December. We‘re yet to decide the release date."

Rushdie‘s Booker prize-winning novel includes highly critical descriptions of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, who suspended democracy in India between 1975 and 1977 in a period known as The Emergency.

Midnight‘s Children, which was adapted by Rushdie, was shot in Sri Lanka, where the government came under pressure from Iran to bring a halt to the project.

The adaptation is due for worldwide release in October or November.