Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as Salim in "Slumdog Millionaire"
Those "Slumdog Millionaire" kids who looked so adorable in their tiny tuxes and girlie dresses at the Oscars are now back in India, in the real-life slums where they were found for the film.
Ten-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail — who played the younger Salim, brother of Dev Patel’s character, Jamal — got a hero's welcome when he returned from America. For a few minutes. Then, according to a report in the Sun, his father slapped and kicked the boy in front of the crowd because he wanted to sleep after his long flight rather than talk to any more reporters. There are photos of Ismail holding his ear and crying.
His father later apologized for his behavior, but according to a report in the Daily Mail, he doesn't want to wait until his son turns 18 to get the cash that he heard would be deposited in a trust fund. He has tuberculosis and earns less than $100 a month gathering wood. He needs help now. The Mail quotes him as saying:
I want the money now, it is of no use later. [Director Danny Boyle] should take care of my son.'
The financial issue is compounded by emotional distress some of the kids are feeling now that they have had a taste of life outside of the slums and then been forced to return. Hollyscoop quotes young Ismail as saying:
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."
Rubina Ali, who plays young Latika in the film, refuses to take off the dress she wore to the Oscars. It's stained with slum dirt now. She reportedly told the Telegraph:
I don't want to live here in the slum anymore. 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 realized how bad life is here. I just want to get out."
Who can blame her?
The "Slumdog" kids played a major role in the success of the Oscar-winning film, which has already brought in more than $115 million and is still showing in theaters worldwide.
The Times of India quotes director Danny Boyle as saying the kids are getting an educational trust fund and money to buy a house, but no dollar figure was mentioned:
They have received some money, which has disappeared, so we have put in place an educational plan. They will receive further payments when they have finished their education and we have also given them money to buy a house."
Both the Mumbai housing authority and the film's producer, Christian Colson, have said they are going to provide housing for the kids' families, according to the Telegraph, but the families have not seen any evidence of that yet.
Are the filmmakers doing enough for these kids? Or were they just exploited and sent back to the slums to fend for themselves? Please tell us what you think. Take our poll and leave your comments.
[ Photo: Slumdog Millionaire ]
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Comments
Exploitation pure and simple. They'd never get away with it for adults. Horrible.
The caste system in India is fairly strong still, advancement out of one's caste in near impossible too. This might have something to do with it.
Oh this is just not right. The movie/producers got all those Oscars and the little actors get the shaft!
I can't believe they haven't got homes yet. It's absolutely awful what it's like out there. I've been to Bombay several times. I can't believe that these kids are living in a poverty that won't even allow them to visit nice, air-conditioned movie theaters, but now everybody around the world is watching them on the screen! Meanwhile, they're sleeping on floors?? I can't believe it.
The film producers have done all they can do for these kids; it's unfair to expect them to be responsible for them the rest of their lives. The Indian govt., the Bollywood film industry and Indian society have to step up to the plate as well. In addition to abject poverty, these two children also come from extremely uneducated and dysfunctional families. It does no good to throw wads of money at them; the parents will take it and waste it. I'm sure that the producers are looing into buying homes for them but this is India we're talking about and the red tape must be horrible to deal with. Anyway, I think too much attention is being paid to these two - what about the other children? they did as much if not more to contribute to the film's success. Don't you think at some point, their parents might begin to resent the other two?
the caste system is among the hindus. these kids are muslim. it's not about caste here, it's about pure poverty. in india, poor = disrespect and inhumanity.
people couldn't care less for them, they are so used to seeing them, they've learned to ignore them. belive me, i know rich kids who've come to the US from india, and they say (in reference to the movie), that they're used to it, it doesn't bother them that much.
"The film producers have done all they can do for these kids; it's unfair to expect them to be responsible for them the rest of their lives."
Please. It was only after news got out that these kids might've been exploited that the filmmakers scrambled for a defense and claimed that they enrolled the kids in a special school--which is allegedly tuition-free. Then the filmmakers said they were buying homes for the two kids who live in the slums. Of course, that still hasn't happened. The children remain in rotting garbage. No surprise. These men have gotten their Oscars, raked in millions and literally left these poor kids in the dust.
if the movie maker couldnt do much they suould left the kids alone ....why they were brought to America and sent back to Slums atleast they were use to it before .....movie makers became a millionnare not slundogs....bad and sad.
shame on danny boyle
The muslim father hitting his child is how Muslims all over the world discipline their children in mosque schools and at home. They ahve a high sense of parental honour and obedience and believe in punitive justice as Western societies use to, some still do. Physical discipline is part of that culture. It is cruel and damaging and good Muslims would not behave like this but it is not Indian to behave so. Indians love children. These are also uneducated, sick father suffering adn not able to handle the press and crowd or to deal rationally with the media attention for his son. he should have bene coached beforehand how to control the press outside his shack. It is terrible for hte child of course, he did not deserve this in any way and how damaging I can only imagine, but you have ot see it in context that the father also needed support. He is so sick with TB and the pressure of the crowds must have been so abnormal for them to cope with.
I am appalled that the production team/ director could even let these children stay one day more in those slums after filming was over. How could they do that? It is so cheap to get one room for rent or a whole house to buy in India, they could have found somewhere for these people temporarily. It is shocking that the toilets at MacDonalds are better places to live than the cesspits these slums are. Shame on the adults who used these children in a poverty porn movie about life getting better when the kids lives did not. I am shocked to think these children are still living their amongst disease and faeces after playing to the masses, making millions for the adults and getting next to nothing for making the film. Schooling, unless it is elite, costs so litte in India and housing also. You can buy luxury flats for under 10000 dollars. It is right they sensibly put the kids money in trust funds for adulthood to protect htem from parental exploitation but they also need and deserve proper payment now. Whatever we think of that father's behavious to his son, or of the real mother coming back to the girl after dumping her as a baby, these are their parents and it will hurt the kids prospects and stress them to not also help their parents.
Please reconsider this idea about helping children from the slums. Don't let Hollywood filmmakers use kids for their own purposes. I am 18 years old and i beg all of those who agree with me let's do something to help that children. lets's oragnize some charity work for them. pray
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