While promoting Slumdog Millionaire during the last year’s awards season, director Danny Boyle and Slumdog producers promised to set up a trust for the young child actors in the film, all of whom were still living in Mumbai ghettos after their work in the film. The major controversy post-awards season was that it simply took forever for the trust to be set up – and the film’s producers came under some heavy criticism. However, eventually the trust did come together, with Danny Boyle even flying to Mumbai to see the kids and get the whole project rolling. Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and his family were moved into a small apartment (Rubina Ali is still in a slum), and the families were told that they would only get their stipend if the kids adhered to certain conditions, like going to school full-time. Therein lies the problem. It seems the kids and their families are in danger of losing the money because the kids aren’t attending school with any kind of regularity:

Ten-year-old Rubina Ali has missed nearly 75 percent of her classes and her co-star hasn’t done much better – truancy that filmmakers say will jeopardize their trust funds and monthly stipends if it continues.

Their parents blame the absences on deaths in the family or other misfortunes, including the demolition of Rubina’s shanty by city authorities earlier this year, and have promised to do better. But the filmmakers say the children are being lured away by endorsement deals, television appearances and other opportunities to cash in on their celebrity – at the risk of losing the money set aside for them once they graduate.

“Our love got a little bit tougher today,” “Slumdog” producer Christian Colson told The Associated Press Thursday. “We understand there are opportunities for both kids – and for the parents of both children – to cash in, in the short term, on their celebrity. We don’t have a problem with that. But if they want to benefit from the trust, they have to get those attendance rates up.”

Beneath the debate about school is a deeper tug-of-war between the impoverished families’ urge for as much short-term gain as possible and the filmmakers’ desire to endow the children with a secure future.

Rubina and 11-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail both grew up in one of Mumbai’s most wretched slums. They shot to fame after starring in the rags-to-riches blockbuster, which won eight Oscars. Rubina was cast as the young Latika, who grows up to become the hero’s love interest, and Azhar plays his brother, Salim.

After filming ended, director Danny Boyle and Colson got the pair placed in a Mumbai school that helps disadvantaged children. But these days, Azhar is showing up to class just 37 percent of the time and Rubina’s attendance is only 27 percent, said Noshir Dadrawala, an administrator of the trust.

“It’s pathetic,” said Dadrawala, adding that a flurry of awards ceremonies, festivals and fashion shows that have taken the kids to Paris, Madras and elsewhere are detracting from their studies.
These have included Rubina’s Paris trip to promote a book about her life, “Slumgirl Dreaming: My Journey to the Stars,” as well as a tea party at Westminster in London, a dance number on a Hong Kong TV show and, of course, a trip to Los Angeles for the Oscars.

“They are constantly going … That’s fine, but go over the weekend, not at the sacrifice of school,” Dadrawala said.

The parents were told Thursday that if the children do not get their attendance above 70 percent they would lose their monthly $120 stipend. And if the kids fail to graduate, they will forfeit the lump sum payment set aside to help them get a start in life, Dadrawala said.

The filmmakers have declined to reveal the amount of the trust for fear of exposing the families to exploitation. In addition, both families are covered by medical insurance, which the trust finalized Thursday. Azhar’s mother, Shameem Ismail, said her son had missed school because he has been inconsolable since his father died in September from tuberculosis.

“He would cry often, so I kept him home from school for a while,” she said, promising he would go to class more often. As long as I’m alive, I will make sure my son gets an education.”

Rubina’s father, Rafiq Qureshi, said his daughter’s absences were due to the destruction of the family’s shanty last May and a cut on her leg that forced her to stay home.

“It will not happen next time,” he promised. “I also know education makes people brighter.”

In July, Azhar moved out of a sheet metal shack in the slum into a $50,000 one-bedroom apartment the filmmakers bought for his family in Mumbai. His mother said Thursday that though they quite like the apartment, where they live with a half-dozen relatives, Azhar would prefer a room of his own.

Rubina remains in the slum. The trustees say they’ve shown Rubina’s family a half-dozen apartments, all of which they rejected. Rubina’s father complained the apartments were too small or too far from his daughter’s school and said it will cost at least $73,000 to find an appropriate place.

But the filmmakers aren’t bargaining. If Rubina’s family doesn’t take a place by January, the money for the apartment will be given to a charity, Colson said.

“He’s continually turned down offers of decent accommodation we’ve offered in the hope that he can embarrass us into making more money available,” Colson said of Rubina’s dad. “We’ve got a significant sum of money sitting there, which other children could benefit from. That’s not the outcome we want. But we need Rafiq to understand we’re not here to negotiate.”

Colson and Boyle were in Mumbai this week to meet with Indian filmmakers and Bollywood megastars Anil Kapoor and Aamir Khan about several film projects, including a thriller loosely based on Suketu Mehta’s book “Maximum City,” a journalistic memoir about Mumbai’s seamy underworld. They also hosted a tea party reunion at the JW Marriott hotel in a posh neighborhood at the epicenter of Mumbai’s burgeoning film industry that was attended by many of the film’s child actors, including Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, who played Latika as a young teenager.

As Rubina and Azhar swept into the Marriott’s marble lobby – Rubina in pink Puma sneakers and Azhar in a flashy silver and red jacket – they were ensnared in a net of popping flash bulbs and aggressive television cameramen. They began to perform for the cameras: Rubina grabbed on to the bulky biceps of a celebrity bodybuilder passing through the lobby as Azhar looked on grinning.

Asked what he wants Rubina to be when she grows up, her father said: “She should be a star.”
Dinesh Dubey, a friend of the families who attended the meeting with Boyle and Colson, said he made a special plea. “I said, ‘Danny Boyle, I just have a request to you sir: In the new film just give them one role,’” Dubey said.

Colson said he and Boyle would be happy to cast the kids in a new film, as long as it doesn’t interfere with school. “Everyone can dream,” Colson said. “But it doesn’t matter if you’re Azhar or Rubina or a kid in Milwaukee: It’s a precarious dream. My advice is go to college in case it doesn’t work out.”

[From The Huffington Post]

Ugh, I hate Rubina Ali’s dad. He sounds like the worst stage father/grifter ever. With his “help” I’m sure Rubina could conceivably become the Lindsay Lohan of Bollywood. And that’s not a good thing. As for the “tough love” aspect of the trustees… well, I think they’re being harsh, but I also think these parents (especially Rubina’s dad) could use a wake-up call. While I don’t care for the “we know best” attitude of the trustees, I kind of think that they might know best. Those kids should be in school.

Here are photos of Rubina Ali in Paris on 7/1/09. Here’s the photo description from Fame Pictures: “Slumdog Millionaire star Rubina Ali, nine, in Paris, France to launch her autobiography on July 1, 2009. These exclusive pictures are from Rubina’s personal photo album documenting her six day stay in the French capital. Her autobiography, De Mon Bidonville A Hollywood (My Slum In Hollywood), was ghostwritten by French authors Anne Berthod and Divya Dugar, and tells the story of Rubina’s journey from Mumbai’s Garib Nagar slums to the Oscars. Rubina, who played the youngest Latika in the award-winning film, devotes an entire chapter refuting a News of the World story claiming her father had tried to sell her, which she denounces as a fictitious entrapment.” Rubina and Azhar are also shown with director Danny Boyle in Mumbai on 5/27/09. Credit: BARM/Fame Pictures

Last week, it seemed the situation for the young child stars of Slumdog Millionaire was coming to a head. After the slum homes of both Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail were destroyed by the government, and Rubina Ali was hospitalized for a viral infection, many were wondering when exactly the Jai Ho Trust money and housing was supposed to kick in for these kids and their families.

That’s when Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson flew to India to meet with the kids and their families. From the pictures (sidenote: why was a press photographer there?), the kids looked beyond thrilled to see their Uncle Danny. But the Huffington Post painted a picture of the meeting that wasn’t so rosy:

The makers of “Slumdog Millionaire” met with the film’s two impoverished child stars Wednesday in Mumbai, but the father of one of the children stormed out of the meeting, saying they’ve been forgotten since the movie won eight Oscars.

Rubina Ali, 9, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, both lost their homes this month as city authorities cleared out parts of the slum where they live.

Rubina has been staying with relatives and Azhar has been living in a makeshift shanty of tarps and blankets with his parents.

“We’ve been trying for a long time to move them into legal accommodation,” director Danny Boyle told reporters at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences on the outskirts of Mumbai, where he and producer Christian Colson met the children and their families.
Boyle also said he plans to make two more films set in Mumbai.

But Rafiq Qureshi, Rubina’s father, said Boyle has not done enough.

“It has been five to six months,” Qureshi said in an interview after he cut the meeting short in anger. “Everything is available in Mumbai if you have the money. If you really want to get us a house you can get us a house in two days.”

“After the Oscars they forgot about us,” he added.

Relations between the filmmakers and the children’s families have grown tense since the phenomenal success of the film, which grossed more than $326 million.

The filmmakers set up a trust aimed at ensuring the children get proper homes, a decent education and a nest egg when they finish high school. They have pledged to spend up to $100,000 to buy the two families new apartments and donated $747,500 to a charity to help slum children across Mumbai.

Trustees did not respond to requests for comment.

[From The Huffington Post]

Look, I don’t think Danny Boyle is a bad guy, and his heart is definitely in the right place. My problem was that as the months flew by, it seemed like Boyle, Colson and the Jai Ho trustees were dithering while the kids’ lives were falling apart. It’s true that just by hiring these young actors, the Slumdog production didn’t owe the kids or the families anything beyond a paycheck for work delivered. But one of the central points of the film’s promotion was that the studio and producers were going to help these families, and they kept making those promises even as Slumdog picked up all of those Oscars. It’s great that Boyle and Colson flew to Mumbai to see first-hand what was happening, and I really hope that now that they’re there, these kids actually get what they were promised.

Thanks to Barm/Fame Pictures for these photos

The young stars of Slumdog Millionaire were flown from Mumbai to LA for the Oscars in February where they were thrilled by the glitz and glamor and seemed to have a great time. They also enjoyed a few days at Disneyland afterwards.

At least two of the lead child actors shown in the film continue to live in poverty in the very rough conditions that some people say were glamorized in Slumdog. Ten-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed and his family live under a tarp. His father has tuberculosis and may die soon. His mother is blind in one eye, but her condition could be fixed with a simple operation. Nine-year-old Rubina Ali is faring slightly better. Her family has a tin shack and she recently earned thousands for shooting a soft drink commercial with Nicole Kidman. She still has raw sewage running directly in front of her family’s shack, though.

There was a lot of controversy over the fact that the children were paid less than $3,000 a piece for their role in a film which went on to win multiple Oscars and gross $292 million worldwide. Director Danny Boyle assured everyone that the families would be given apartments and that trusts were set up for the children to be turned over to them when they completed school. It has been six weeks since the Oscars though, and the children are still living in the slums of Mumbai. Their families say no one from the film has contacted them at all. The financial support provided by producers has barely extended beyond the initial meager acting fee.

Dressed in the most expensive clothes they had ever worn, Slumdog Millionaire’s child stars thought their life of poverty and deprivation was over after the film’s haul of eight Oscars. They had been promised new homes, money and an education. But six weeks after being flown to Hollywood and lavished with praise Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail feel angry, bitter and betrayed.

Mention the name of Danny Boyle, once seen as the hero who would rescue them from the slums, and disappointment is etched across the face of the two children plucked from poverty to star in his hit film. Boyle and producer Christian Coulson stand accused of betraying the film’s most vulnerable young stars.

Public promises of new homes, money and education have failed to materialise. No one from the production company has been to visit, nor have they bothered to phone.

Rubina and Azhar, who played the youngest Latika and Salim, are still living in the slums – a year after filming their critically acclaimed roles, they are resigned to the likelihood that they always will. If the children are disappointed, their parents are furious.

“We have been abandoned by Danny Boyle and his associates,” said Rafiq Qureshi, the father of Rubina. “He promised us a lot when the film won at the Oscars but since then no one has come to visit us.

“We’ve been given no money and no house. There is no trust fund that I’ve been told about. The monthly allowance promised to Rubina and Azhar stopped before they even went to the Oscars.

“I feel betrayed and hurt. All these promises came to nothing.”

Boyle and Coulson repeatedly made public promises of education, money to buy a house and a trust fund for the children, claiming it was one of their top priorities.

“We have paid painstaking and considered attention to how Azhar and Rubina’s involvement in the film could be of lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work,” said Boyle in a statement at the time of the Oscars.

“The children had never attended school, and in consultation with their parents we agreed that this would be our priority.

“Since June 2008 and at our expense, both kids have been attending school and they are flourishing under the tutelage of their dedicated and committed teachers.

“Financial resources have been made available for their education until they are 18. We were delighted to see them progressing well when we visited their school and met with their teachers last week.”

The reality, according to Rubina’s father, is somewhat different. Education at the government school is free. The only expense spent by Slumdog’s producers is on an autorickshaw to take them to school, costing £1 per day.

Despite grossing over £185 million worldwide and winning eight Oscars the impoverished families of Slumdog’s youngest stars claim they do not even have enough money to buy simple medicines.

And despite repeated public guarantees the financial security promised to the children and their families has yet to materialise.

Last month Rubina and Azhar were sent by their desperate parents cap-in hand-to Sonia Gandhi, India’s most powerful politician, to plead their case for a new home.

“We don’t have a good house to live in. We have made the country proud by acting in a film that won eight Oscar awards. We feel that we have done a good job for our country so we want Sonia to give us a good house,” said nine-year-old Rubina.

Travelling to Delhi to meet Gandhi, the President of India’s ruling Congress Party, the two destitute child-actors and their families claimed they had been badly let down after their work in the multi-award winning film.

“The film’s producers promised us a new home and that my child would receive a trust fund for her education, but nothing has come of this,” said Mr Quershi.

“We were paid £700 for my child’s one month of work and other provisions such as traveling costs were provided, but what we were promised and what we have received does not match up.”

On numerous occasions Coulson and Boyle promised the now famous children would be given money for a house and a trust fund that would be made available to them when and if they stayed in education until their 18th birthday.

“These are bricks and mortar flats. They will have electricity, running water and good sanitation,” said Boyle a month ago.

“They will still be close to their friends and extended family. Their community is very important to them, and they don’t want to move too far away from them.”

Mr Qureshi, 36, is furious at what he sees as a betrayal. He has refused permission for Rubina to act in other films unless she is paid in advance.

“When my child began filming at the beginning of 2008 we were led to believe that £35,000 would be split and used to buy my family and Azharuddin’s family two homes,” he said.

“And we also believed that the same amount would be put aside in a trust fund to be split between Rubina and Azharuddin when they reached 18 and left school.

“I have seen no papers, I have no bank details, no one from Celador or Fox-Searchlight has been to my home to see me.

“I have given up on them because they seem to have forgotten about us. I should have known better than to trust them.”

[From BARM/Fame. Article written by James Nye at Barcroft Media]

Maybe now that Boyle’s broken promises are getting press he’ll step up to the plate and actually arrange the apartments he repeatedly promised for these families. It’s outrageous that these children were brought to the Oscars and to Disneyland and that they can’t even return to one bedroom apartments with running water. Many people say that it’s not up to Boyle to provide financial assistance to these families, but surely he could at least give them the cheap apartments he promised.

If Doyle doesn’t help these kids, they may be able to work their way out of the slums on their own. They recently walked the runway for Indian designing team Ashima and Leena. Now that it’s known that they’re still struggling they may get more opportunities.

Photo and story credit: BARM/Fame Pictures

Danny Boyle is ecstatic with his Best Director win at the Oscars. Slumdog Millionaire picked up eight Oscars in total, including Best Picture. When Boyle returned home to Manchester, his family wanted to show him off. So they took him for “lunchtime lemonade” at St. Mary’s Catholic Social Club.

The sweetest part is the quotes with Danny – you can tell he’s still in shock. He claims he’s been taking his Oscar everywhere with him, and it’s already banged up. Here’s an interesting little fact: the Academy insures the Oscar statuettes, and if you’re lucky enough to win one, and your statue gets banged up, the Academy will replace it free of charge. Many Oscar winners have complained that the gold coating flakes off eventually, but they’re always happy to find out they can easily get a new one.

Film director Danny Boyle popped into his local club with his Oscar under his arm to toast the success of Slumdog Millionaire at the awards.

The 52-year-old director of Slumdog Millionaire was joined by his father Frank, 87, and twin sister Maria at St Mary’s Catholic Social Club in Radcliffe, Bury, Greater Manchester, for a lunchtime lemonade.

Boyle, who bagged an Oscar for best director for the film, said: “You kind of dream about stuff like this. I’m sure everybody in the industry does.”

When asked what his top moments were, the father of three said: “My top moments are my kids. They top everything.”

Asked what was next for the director, Boyle said: “I have no idea. I’ve been promoting the film since September in America and I haven’t had time to do any planning. But I’m looking forward to planning something.”

Boyle said that the best director gong, which was carried in a blue bag to the club, had been kept on a shelf but had picked up a “bit of damage” from “taking it everywhere” and showing it to people.

Maria Boyle said: “It’s been a really emotional time. Certainly when he produced the Oscar and we saw it for the first time a few tears come to your eyes because you can’t quite believe it, it’s such an iconic statue…You think, wow, this is Danny holding this.”

But Ms Boyle insisted Danny was a “normal person” and she thinks he keeps his “feet firmly on the ground”.

Albert Waters, chairman of St Mary’s Social Club, said: “I think it’s superb. He’s done something no-one else around here has ever done. I think he deserves some sort of award for his achievements.”

Boyle, whose other films include Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, is also being considered for the civic honour of freedom of the borough of his hometown by Bury Metropolitan Borough Council. Boyle said it was “nice” and he was proud to be considered for the civic honour.

From The Daily Telegraph

Danny Boyle deserves all of the local honors he can get. His victory is a throwback to when a non-American winning an Oscar is treated as a huge deal in the winner’s home country. So many Indians are celebrating Slumdog’s Oscar wins, and it’s nice the Great Britain is celebrating too.

When Penelope Cruz was on Oprah, she admitted that the night she won, she put her Oscar on her pillow. I wonder if Danny Boyle did something similar, just to prove it wasn’t all a dream.

Danny Boyle and his twin sister, Maria, are shown at their local social club, St. Marys, in Manchester, England on 2/28/09. Credit: WENN

Child star Azhar points out his family’s ‘house’ under a plastic sheet to a BBC reporter. Watch this shocking BBC News segment on YouTube.

The child stars of Oscar favorite Slumdog Millionaire have been invited to attend the Academy Awards in Hollywood this Sunday. 10 year-old Azharuddin Ismail and 9 year-old Rubina Ali still live in tiny shacks with their families in the slums of Mumbai. Slumdog director Danny Boyle has been criticized for only paying the children less than $3,000 each for their parts in the film, which has grossed over $151 million worldwide. Boyle counters that each child is now being sent to school at the film’s expense and that a trust is being set up for them which will allow their families to purchase homes once they finish school at the age of 18. Many, including Kaiser, liken that to modern day colonialism and say that it may be too late for their families to live dignified lives by that time. Little Azhar’s dad suffers from tuberculosis and is likely to pass if he continues to live almost in the open for those eight long years.

Boyle is likely trying to counter the controversy by inviting all of the 9 child stars of the film to the Oscars, but will he do the right thing for their families afterwards or just send them back to live in the slums until they finish school? They would have lived that way anyway, right?

Azhar’s dad, who has tuberculosis

MUMBAI, India — In the slums where they live, goats pick over piles of trash and men kneel in the street to pray. But the young stars of “Slumdog Millionaire” were cruising Mumbai in an air-conditioned Toyota Friday, doing last-minute shopping and getting advice on the unimaginable: air travel.

The slumdog kids had just got the good news _ they were going to the Oscars.

“I feel very very very very very very good,” 10-year-old Azharuddin Ismail said, sitting across from his home, a scruffy lean-to of tarps and blankets.

He’d never been on plane. He’d never traveled outside India. And, when pressed, he couldn’t name any Hollywood stars he’d really like to meet.

Neither could Rubina Ali, his 9-year-old co-star and neighbor.

Both were plucked from the slums of Mumbai by director Danny Boyle to star in “Slumdog Millionaire,” a rags-to-riches tale of a slum kid who makes it big. The film has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Azhar, as his friends call him, was cast as the hero Jamal Malik’s brother Salim, and Rubina as the young Latika, who grows up to be his love interest.

All nine actors who play the three lead characters in three stages of their lives will attend the awards ceremony Sunday. “The kids are on their way to the Oscars! Everyone is very excited!” Boyle said in an e-mail confirming the good news Friday.

[From AP via Huffington Post]

Yesterday I saw a segment on BBC news about the two families of Azhar and Rubina with footage of how they live. It is one thing to hear or read about it, but seeing how they live really brings it home. Azhar’s family doesn’t even have a roof and lives under a plastic sheet. Azhar was crying and his dad said they didn’t want to be shown that way. Azhar’s dad is bone thin and he pulled the skin on his arm to show how pliant it was from chronic tuberculosis. Rubina is doing a little better as her family has a roof. She says she wants to become an actress and use the money to help the poor.

Of course these children’s lives were changed by these roles, but it’s not enough to just pluck them out and show them looking cute on film and at events when it’s convenient. How much would it cost to change their lives now?

There are countless other families living like this all over the world, and you can’t change the world or even a portion of a slum with a movie. At least this film has brought awareness to it, though, and maybe after some pressure the filmmakers will help these families and not let the father of one their child stars die without getting proper medical treatment and a roof over his head. Maybe by inviting them to the Oscars they’re taking more of a determined step in that direction.

You can watch the BBC News segment of the families of the two child stars on YouTube. I would include it here but embedding is disabled.

Azhar crying as he talks about how he lives