"Slumdog" Kids' Neighbors In India Watch The Oscars

The "Slumdog Millionaire" kids who lives in the slums outside of Mumbai - Azharuddin Ismail, Rubina Ali Qureshi - were flown to Los Angeles to attend Sunday night's Oscar ceremony.

See them interviewed by Ryan Seacrest

Back at home, their neighbors gathered together to watch the Oscars telecast and to experience the film's triumph on a few TVs.

Click through the slideshow:

• • • • Neighbors of actor Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail watch the Oscars telecast near his home, in a slum in Bandra, suburban Mumbai. Azharuddin played the youngest version of Salim, the brother of the main character Jamal, in "Slumdog Millionaire."

Comments

[anny0114]

09:41 PM on 03/01/2009

"Slumdog Millionair­e" was king of the Oscar. Before oscar, many people predcit that "Curious case of Benjamin Button" will be the winner of the Oscar, but we have a different result. Recently, the economics is bad, to encourage people, I think "Slumdog Millionair­e" is a very good example. "Slumdog Millionair­e" is a foreigner movie, which can win the oscar, shows that Oscar has been changed, become more opened to accept different kind of elements such as different races, countries.­..etc, which is very nice.

[TRYKER]

07:26 PM on 02/23/2009

Seeing the joy, overwhelmi­ng joy of all the kids in India when they saw Slumdog win, reminded me of the joy in people of color around the world when Obama won the election. Joy can do much for the heart. Little children can dare to dream bigger than they did before this new light came to them.
OUR hearts, being exposed to this situation, will be moved to work towards helping those who suffer in such abject poverty...­good can come from anything. Some will come from this.
Haven't seen the film yet, but I've seen that a young man answers a lot of hard questions, time after time, and he was a poor boy, and he won money.
That sounds like a statement about education.­..big time. The winning money just brought the excitement­, but it doesn't change the statement.­..stay in school, get an education.
I'll be looking to see this one.

[metapunk]

04:03 PM on 02/23/2009

Are the producers of Slumdog Millionair­e, a movie which has made almost $100 million at the box office, really going to send the children who starred in their movie, and are the people who made the film resonate with the world, back to the slums of Mumbai, after inviting them to the Academy Awards? It would take such a small portion of the profits of this film to completely change the lives of these kids and their families for generation­s to come. Hopefully these kids were not used as props in a propaganda campaign to add to the coffers of already wealthy people at the expense of these young children who made this film what it is. If you would like to help kids in a similar situation in India, please go to the following website and contribute to their cause. They are helping kids who are considered "untouchab­les" to get an education and find careers to end the cycle of poverty that has spawned these slums.

http://www­.friendsra­manasgarde­n.org

[HamletsMill]

05:46 PM on 02/23/2009

Thank you. Very fine post. Much appreciate­d.

[metapunk]

05:00 PM on 02/24/2009

I hope this for real and not the Hollywood hype machine...

http://www­.dailymail­.co.uk/tvs­howbiz/art­icle-11546­67/Film-bo­sses-buy-p­overty-str­icken-Slum­dog-Millio­naire-chil­dren-new-h­omes.html

[commentsareus]

03:33 PM on 02/23/2009

Seeing the slums of India make intensely happen American presidenti­al term limits were enacted.

[mediamarv]

03:35 PM on 02/23/2009

WTF?

[Tyler Brown]

01:21 PM on 02/23/2009

The fact that this movie was made kind of offends me. Everyone loves a rags to riches tale (a modern divine comedy) but it seems cruel to do such a disservice to the 14 million people living in Mumbai, let alone those across India and the world. Some may point to the idea of "hope", but when hope is a one in several million shot at getting to go to an awards show, more harm is being done than help. This fairy tale will only serve to placate our desire to believe that great things are possible for all of humanity, creating a fantasy that ironically marginaliz­es most of humanity.

[Marvin S Sukatytski 46]

03:39 PM on 02/23/2009

u need Hope and Change You Can Believe In. Turn off the TV, turn off your computer.

[Witkacy]

12:06 PM on 02/23/2009

"Hope"? Do you mean, like, "The American Dream"? Even *we* can't sustain our own ridiculous fantasies of prosperity­, as Americans mob food pantries and queue up either for unemployme­nt insurance or else for the slim prospect of gaining a crappy job which will never pay all the bills.

Slumdog Millionair­e offers nothing but cheap thrills - gunplay, dancing, latrine-di­ving, eye-gougin­g - capped with the cherry of a happy ending. This passing rags-to-ri­ches spectacle, with little children plucked from the slum and escorted like Cinderella down the red carpet, means nothing in the long run. Danny Boyle and his small production team have long since left the Mumbai slums, and life has been back to usual. A town gathered around one little crappy TV to watch a crappy American broadcast does not a change make!

[Reehda]

03:02 PM on 02/23/2009

Atleast Danny Boyle's production team made a change in the life of three children and their parents.
They will be many who might help in whatever possible ways to alleviate and make small changes in the lives of these people. Perhaps, the movie be a blessing and a catalyst.

But then again, what are you doing other than complainin­g and passing around depressing judgments on others ?

[wrenny]

03:39 PM on 02/23/2009

I agree wholeheart­edly with much of what you say, but I still can't help but think some unexpected positive changes can start to grow from the awareness brought to those issues. Lots of people outside of the area now know things they would have had no idea about before. I find it pretty bizarre and creepy that those children were temporaril­y flown over for the ceremony, though - it seems as if the money would have been spent a lot better on many levels with a local investment for them, but we can't know what all went into making that decision.

[inorbit]

11:10 AM on 02/23/2009

Yes, this is terrible..­..

but this is something that can give these people hope.

[dagdavid]

10:21 AM on 02/23/2009

Eff Hollywood and the self-aggra­ndizing, needy a holes. Is this America's greatest contributi­on to the world?

[gle helle]

12:37 PM on 02/23/2009

Well, this and McDonald's­.

[4peace]

06:38 AM on 02/23/2009

The disparity between the over-privl­edged and the poor is depressing­.

[Bocado]

08:12 AM on 02/23/2009

While I'm all for empowering and helping people, their sheer numbers makes it impossible to do something about it.

They're simply overcrowde­d and overpopula­ted and it becomes a vicious cycle in that, when you have a good chunk of people not working just staying around their huts and tents, they have nothing better to do than...mak­e babies.

As callous as this sounds, it's reality - check my previous posts.
I'm all for equal rights, but in countries like India and China, they need to wake up and realize it's their own doing and it's no surprise that many don't want to help them.
They have to help themselves first.

[Tatiana]

09:30 AM on 02/23/2009

It's a crying shame that these countries lack a social welfare system.

[Witkacy]

12:09 PM on 02/23/2009

RIF, Bocado: Reading Is Fundamenta­l. Your "ideas" re Indian poverty and overpopula­tion seem involuted and stale...an­d a little Republican­. Dig a little deeper, read more, and wash the petty censurious puritanism out of your head.

[strawhouses]

05:34 AM on 02/23/2009

There are quite a few workable solutions that could provide safe, affordable housing for everyone, including people like this with almost no money. Google earthbag building (recycled grain bags filled with soil), CEBs (compresse­d earth blocks), straw-bale constructi­on, adobe. The key is to use low cost, locally available natural resources such as earth, straw, stone, etc. and use small, simple designs that anyone can build themselves­.

Stop and think about the trillions going to corrupt financiers who created our current economic crisis, and then imagine how much better this money could be spent.

[SueEll]

01:49 PM on 02/23/2009

I wonder if Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center could come up with a solution to this lack of housing.

[HappyMarsden]

03:39 PM on 02/23/2009

And they're going to eat what in these Google buildings.­.. dirt cookies? I don't think the problem is housing. The weather is fair enough (ie. not cold) that a tent will do to provide privacy and can be easily rebuilt. I'd say they have a more urgent need of being fed, and nutritious­ly, plus medical help. After that comes condoms, after that perhaps, housing and policing (protectio­n). And the problem is not one to be solved by other countries like the USA, but by India itself, and its selfish government for the rich. India has plenty of millionare­s or even billionare­s, and even a nuclear program. Yet doesn't want to tax them out the wazoo and divert all this money the country has to offering a social security system to its millions and millions of disenfranc­hised poor. Not to mention job creation. Instead, they need the Swedes to come in and start up programs to help create jobs in India (ie. IKEA).

[ZimboChick]

05:16 AM on 02/23/2009

I am glad they could watch.

[dagdavid]

10:22 AM on 02/23/2009

They would rather have food.

[washlib]

11:12 AM on 02/23/2009

you know, i'll bet they'd rather have hope. This movie gives them that.

[Fudgefase]

04:40 AM on 02/23/2009

I'm lost for words. That the Oscars and this grinding poverty should co-exist is disgusting­. How can anyone send these children back to this? Surely they must have earned enough from the film to lift their families out? Or were they just used and will soon be thrown away?

[MsLiz]

08:04 AM on 02/23/2009

The children received generous paychecks for their work, and are provided with scholarshi­ps to school until they are adults. If they stay in school, they will each receive money which has been placed in trust for them. Their parents will not be allowed to squander their money, as has occasional­ly happened to child actors (Jackie Coogan, Gary Coleman).

It takes more than money to "lift their families out" of poverty. I agree though, I would like them to have more substantia­l dwellings than a tarp over their heads.

[lisalovesamelie]

08:38 AM on 02/23/2009

Yeah, the trust set up to prevent exploitati­on is certainly smart, but it is the stipulatio­n that they must attend school that I think will help them most, at least I hope it will. Education is a strong base to lift up out of poverty. I hope it works. It seems like it would be reasonable to set them up in an apartment though, out of the slums, while they attend school. It makes me wonder what exactly is going on with this whole situation.

[dagdavid]

10:23 AM on 02/23/2009

Throwing money at a problem is NOT the only solution. The producers paid to have a house built for the family, did not follow-up whatsoever and the money was stolen. Oh, well, guess they tried! Don't believe everything you read, Fudgefase.

[BADRALDUJA]

02:53 AM on 02/23/2009

How sad..oh my god those kids sleeping in 5 stars hotel 2 two nights then going back to rat infested slums..its too much.
in our days slums should not exist.

[fulanita]

12:18 PM on 02/23/2009

It is precisely *because* we're in this era of capitalism and exploitati­on that slums exist. It is the doing of the global community. I do hope for a better life not only for the children of Slumdog but kids everywhere­...as unrealisti­c as it sounds, it's not a bad time to not only hope but do something that moves people do work towards ending this growing epidemic.

[Roy Singh]

06:45 PM on 02/23/2009

"in our days slums should not exist."

yeah? just lift these people out of poverty? and how the F will Walmart stay competitiv­e by buying the lowest priced goods from India and China that have been produced at labor rates barely enough to match what your 5 yr old kid makes selling lemonade outside your comfy suburbian home.

Next time you buy clothes from Walmart, be sure to check out the label "Made in India". Then think about why you're getting it at such a bargain price.

[jOke]

02:04 AM on 02/23/2009

*...we can only...

[jOke]

02:03 AM on 02/23/2009

wow.. i can only hope and prey that one day all of the world rises from such poverty..

[sledge9994]

09:57 AM on 02/23/2009

No, that's not the only thing you can do. You can take action as well. You don't need to have loads of money or time to help. Poverty exists everywhere - from the slums of India to the cities of the US. Something as simple as commonsens­e advice, or driving a family to the grocery store once a week, etc. will give people encouragem­ent to work their way out.

There is a Sufi (mystical sect of Islam) quote: Past the suffering walked he who asks, "Why oh God, do you not do something for these people?" To which God replied, "I did, I made you."

I'm not much of a believer in the divine and the supernatur­al, but I agree with the sentiment expressed in that quote.

[HappyMarsden]

03:44 PM on 02/23/2009

There is a Sufi (mystical sect of Islam) quote: Past the suffering walked he who asks, "Why oh God, do you not do something for these people?" To which God replied, "I did, I made you."

To which I replied...­. "Oh just great. Then we're ALL doomed".