Update: 
 Just back from watching the movie and.... well... it kind of highlights the less great parts of the book, just because it's a movie. You notice the non-plot, you notice that the characters get dragged around from India to Pakistan to Bangladesh depending which big political event or war is happening as we make our way from 1947 to 1977; and we really notice how gushingly sentimental it all turns out in the end. All of these problems are there in the book but are melted, dissolved, and blended like tasty spices in a piquant dish. All is made good by Rushdie's fantastic prose style which is utterly stunning and makes the book a MUST READ. And the prose, even the bits read by the narrator, who is Mr Rushdie himself, is not in the movie. Because it's a movie not a book. 
 SUMMARY 
 Book : 10! 
 Film : 5.5 
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 An earlier non-review: 
 Everyone knows Salman was once a humble copywriter for an ad agency. And he came up with a couple of good ones - famously, one for the National Dairy Council, when they were advertising cream cakes. The slogan was "Naughty ... but nice" and the ads were televised around 1980. 
 I was listening to a lot of American pop stuff from the 50s the other day and what came up but Frankie Avalon, singing a daft song called "Gingerbread" 
 REFRAIN 
 Ginger bread ginger bread ginger bread ginger bread 
 Ginger bread ginger bread ginger bread ginger bread 
 You're full of sugar you're full of spice 
 You're kinda naughty but you're naughty and nice 
 Salman Rushdie - you're busted. And you're outed as a Frankie Avalon fan.