"Slumdog Millionaire" Director Danny Boyle Buys Home for Boy Actor

Danny Boyle buys new flat for homeless 'Slumdog Millionaire' child star - Yahoo! News UK

Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and the trust he set up for the
child stars of Slumdog Millionaire have bought a new home for
nine-year-old Azharuddin Ismail, who played the young Salim in the
movie.

The British filmmaker flew out to Mumbai to help after the nine-year-old's family was forced to leave their shanty town when it was demolished.

Danny said he hoped a new home could also be found for Rubina Ali - who was also left homeless after authorities razed her house - before the monsoon rains in June. The £33,000 apartment bought for Azharuddin and his family is near to the boy's school.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog filmmakers visit two child stars of 'Slumdog Millionaire'

'Slumdog' filmmakers meet poor kid stars in Mumbai - Yahoo! News

MUMBAI, India – The makers of "Slumdog Millionaire" met the film's two impoverished child stars on Wednesday and reassured them they will soon have new homes. But the father of one of the children stormed out, saying the filmmakers have not done enough to help.

Rubina Ali, 9, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, both lost their homes this month after city authorities demolished parts of their slum in Mumbai. 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.

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, a monthly stipend 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 have donated $747,500 to a charity to help slum children across Mumbai.

Colson has described the trust as substantial, but will not tell anyone how much it contains — not even the children's parents — for fear of making the youngsters vulnerable to exploitation.

Nirja Mattoo, who helps oversee the children's trust, said a new home has been found for Azhar's family near to his school and neighborhood. "We are finalizing the deal. Next week it should be done," she said.

The hunt for Rubina's house continues, she added.

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

"It's no big deal for them, this kind of money. It's been five or six months we've been living in such difficulty. They should help us," he said in an interview after he cut the meeting short in anger.

"After the Oscars they forgot about us," he added. "For two months we didn't get any money."

Mattoo declined to comment on Qureshi's behavior.

"We're trying our best to get it (a house) as soon as possible," she said by phone.

Boyle said he planned to make two more films set in Mumbai.

Child stars in slums to get new homes before monsoon season

Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper - India

The child actors in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire who lost their shanties in a recent demolition drive in Mumbai city are all set to get new homes, a news report said yesterday.

The housing and development authority in Maharashtra has promised the young stars will be given new homes before monsoon rains hit the city, the Press Trust of India news agency reported quoting officials.

The monsoon season usually begins in June and lasts until September.

Anil Kapoor to donate his "Slumdog" Millionaire" take to children's charity

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Anil Kapoor And The Real Slumdog Millionaire Support India’s Children

Actor Anil Kapoor has pledged to donate his earnings from Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire to Plan India, a charity that supports vulnerable children in India.

Although Kapoor describes his own beginnings as modest, it wasn’t the level of underprivilege that he’s witnessed since becoming involved with Plan India in 2006. The abuse and exploitation of children that he has seen over the past couple of years has affected him deeply: “There are many who are sold and forced into prostitution, begging, labour and other such activities. Lack of education and functional skills has made trafficking of these children the prime source of income for the people.”

Plan India attempts to combat this through various measures, both directly and through community and governmental organisations. Better education for girls has reduced the number of early marriages, and vocational training to improve economic conditions deflects the exploitation of children. The charity is working on projects in both rural and urban communities, as well as directly with street children, child labourers and orphans.

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'Quizmaster' Anil Kapoor to star in American TV show ‘24’

Anil Kapoor to star in American TV show ‘24’

Mumbai, March 09: The success stories surrounding Oscar winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ just seems to be getting bigger and better by the day. After Freida Pinto, the lesser-known Indian actress went to rule the world, rubbing shoulders with legends; it’s the turn of Anil Kapoor now, who is all smiles owing to his ‘Millionaire’ association. The actor will soon be seen playing one of the leading roles in popular American TV show ‘24’.

According to sources, Anil has been roped in for the new season of the show. The season that is set to begin in May, would mark the actor’s debut on international TV. A news daily quoted a friend of the actor saying, “The modalities are being worked out. Anil is very kicked about this offer."

The show has won a numerous number of gongs including the much renowned Emmy and Golden Globe accolades.

An action drama TV series, ‘24’ depicts a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the US government as it fights domestic threats.

With Anil climbing on the Telly bandwagon, it seems he is ready to carry his small screen ‘Slumdog’ avatar forward.

Slumdog Millionaire

'Slumdog' director, producer committed to getting child stars out of slums

Source: EW.com

After rubbing elbows with Brangelina at the Oscars, Slumdog Millionaire's Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail enjoyed a hero's homecoming in the Mumbai slums. But soon after came grim reports of their struggle to readjust to a place where sewage runs unchecked and electricity is a luxury. One story described ­Ismail, 10, getting slapped by his father for ­refusing to speak to reporters. Ali, 9, was photographed in her muddy Oscar gown, standing near heaps of ­refuse. In Los Angeles, "we lived in very beautiful hotels," she told People magazine recently. "I have got used to...[that] kind of life."

None of this is lost on producer Christian Colson and director Danny Boyle, who set up trust funds for the kids and paid for their schooling after the film wrapped. "It's a really difficult situation that's spiraling out of control," Colson tells EW. "We've had to constantly reevaluate the challenge of: If you want to lift people out of poverty, how the hell do you do that?" According to him, the children's parents rejected the filmmakers' offer to move them from their makeshift shacks into proper apartments, demanding instead payment in cash. "Nothing would be easier than to throw money at this," says Colson. "But we felt from the beginning that that would be irresponsible." So he and Boyle (with input from the film's U.S. distributor Fox Searchlight) have hired local Indian social workers to help negotiate a solution that will relocate the families into safe and clean housing. Colson can't say how soon they'll resolve the matter, but he promises he won't quit until they do. "We are committed to this," he says. "We'll still be on this in two or three years. And you can hold me to account on that."

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire star child falls sick upon return to Mumbai

Slumdog Millionaire star falls ill : thewest.com.au

Slumdog Millionaire child star Azharuddin Ismail has fallen ill as fears grow about the psychological state of the two young Indian actors.

Azhar, 10, spent the weekend vomiting and has developed a temperature of 103 degrees since returning home last week after travelling to the Oscars with co-star Rubina Ali, 9.

He has been prescribed antibiotics by doctors, who said he is suffering from fever and exhaustion, but his condition has continued to worsen.

Azhar's neighbours have also rallied round to build an 8ft by 5ft metal structure for him to sleep under out of the sun.

The families of the two child stars have said their children are not readjusting to life back in the slums after five days of glitz and glamour in Los Angeles.

Mother Shameem Ismail said: "It has all become too much for him. He is very ill and has not recovered from going to America and all the media interest since we got back."

Rubina's father Rafiq Qureshi said. "Getting used to life back here in the slum again is proving tough for her and she has not wanted to see her friends since she got back. She just wants to spend all her time away from the slum now and I just hope we get the flat that has been promised to us.":

Both the Mumbai housing authority and Slumdog's producer Christian Colson have said they are going to provide proper flats for the two families. However, as yet the families have been told nothing and remain in the deprived slum.

Azhar, cuddling his new pet guinea pig, said: "I am very sad. I feel sleepy, hot and sick all the time. I can't get to sleep here – there are too many mosquitoes and it is so hot. I just wish I was in America still."

Having flown in a plane, slept in a soft bed and used a clean and functioning bathroom for the first time in their lives at a five-star hotel, the kids say they have now realised what life is like on the other side of the coin and the reality of being back in the slum is hitting them hard.

"I don't want to live here in the slum anymore," Rubina said, wearing the dirt stained ball gown that she has not wanted to take off since Oscars night. "I don't want to sleep on the floor anymore. I want a proper bed and live where the air does not smell of poo. I have seen what it is like in America. Here, there is garbage everywhere, people get angry, swear and shout. I have realised how bad life is here. I just want to get out."

Social workers have called for the children to be placed in care and state that they need to be given protection – either from Danny Boyle and the film production company or the Indian authorities.

"I cannot believe these kids have just been left like this after being taken to Hollywood. It is bound to affect them psychologically," said social worker Sanjay Bhatia, who works in the slum.

India's Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhary is "appalled" at the beating that Azhar took at the hands of his father on Friday. Azhar was thrashed for saying he wanted to sleep rather than talk to a journalist who had offered money to his father.

More Post Oscar Interviews with Anil Kapoor

Slumdog Millionaire

NDTV India Speaks to Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Dev Patel

Slumdog Millionaire

Oscars Recap Showcasing Big Wins for 'Slumdog Millionaire'