Samrat Chakrabarti, dubbed the independent film king of New York, recently finished filming Deepa Mehta's film Midnight's Children. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by the legendary Salman Rushdie who co-wrote the screenplay with Mehta.

Set for a 2012 release, Samrat is part of an epic ensemble cast, which includes: Seema Biswas, Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Rajat Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Rahul Bose, Sarita Choudhury, Siddharth, Shriya, Darsheel Safary & many more.

Midnight's Children was filmed on location in Sri Lanka and depicts a fascinating story of the children born on the day of India's Independence. The novel combines historical, political and fantastical storytelling to bring the reader on a spectacular journey.

"It was exhilarating working with Deepa to bring Salman's Rushdie's character Wee Willie Winkie to life on the big screen", says Samrat of his role with the film. Deepa Mehta experienced Samrat's acting ability at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2009, where he starred in ‘Bombay Summer' directed by Joseph Mathew. She shortly after asked him if he wanted to be a part of ‘Midnight's Children'.

Samrat learned to play an accordion for the role of Wee Willie Winkie – however this was an easy task as he is a seasoned musician with the ability to play the piano, tabla, and many other instruments.

Samrat also stars in The Waiting City, which released on DVD on May 31st in the states and is now available thru Amazon, Netflix and Itunes. He plays Krishna, a hotel boy, who helps navigate an Australian caucasian married couple on a journey of self discovery as they travel to India to adopt a child.

The film was shot in Calcutta, Samrat's family's hometown. Written and directed by Claire McCarthy, the film also stars Radha Mitchell (Surrogates, Finding Neverland), Joel Edgerton (King Arthur, The Thing), Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2) and Tillotama Shome (Monsoon Wedding).