'Slumdog' Filmmakers Meet With Poverty-Stricken Child Stars

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.

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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.

___

Additional reporting by Gautam Singh and Rajanish Kakade in Mumbai.

Comments

[Ohsherri]

You can't make cut and dry business deals with parents who would sell their childrens
body and souls if they could.

[Marilyn-Malaysia]

Why isn’t the huge Bollywood community helping these people living in slums since they are right there in MUMBAI! No money is going to suffice for them as well, the trust fund was indeed a good act but Danny Boyle & team have to say no at some point. These kids’ parents would sell their own children for survival, isn't it strange the local authorities are not helping these people as well…Maybe next time international movie producers would re-think their intentions to hire poverty stricken and greedy people for their movies. My heart goes out to these kids, it’s tragic to see them being exploited by their parents.

[danusgram]

Exactly

[diana1]

So, where in the contract did it state that the production company was responsible for the welfare of the kids for the rest of their lives? Yes, it is very sad that the kids and their families are being relocated, but is that Hollywood's problem? It was a business arrangement. Pure and simple

[Ghost803]

As an Indian I don't see how the directors owe the family anything.... They were fools to have taken the kids out of the country to Disney World and Hollywood and given them a taste of that... It will probably irreparably damage their lives now... But other than that, there is no monetary obligation.... Most of the lower middle class families make around 110-120 dollars a month. So, the wages paid to these kids were by no means a small sum in comparison to the rest of the Indian work force.....

[willman81]

BOYCOTT DANNY BOYLE!!!! I will never watch a film that he has any ties with.

[llisa]

You didn't read the last paragraph of the article, did you?

[harriettubman]

This should be a warning to film producers. If you seek any poor child in India, their family comes attaached with the contract. I have never witnessed such greed in my life.

[pinkfirefly]

are you joking? They need to remedy this exploitation, asap.

[Defunct]

They were paid for their serivces + more. Its not up to the film makers to fund them the rest of their lives. They have already set up trusts for them. They need to make us of what they have. Danny Boyle could have chosen other kids.

[inc3000]

Something is wrong here. The film makers made over 300 million and....they don't share it with these kids?

[nico89]

Read the article

[Ohsherri]

Yes they did!
Do you read much?

[llisa]

Cont. from below:

The situation these unfortunate children are involved in is not a solvable one. It certainly will not be cured with money or apartments. And it is not the filmmakers fault nor is it possible for them to "fix it". I do believe they have sincerely tried and thought they were doing the right thing when they gave the parents money (squandered) and offered apartments (refused). They have no authority in India, so the only thing they can do is give money (which they have, plus money for school in trust funds plus a donation for other kids in this situation) and wait for the Indian authorities to find the families proper housing that they will accept.

Really, I have only heard scorn for the filmmakers. Does anyone have a workable suggestion? I'm sure they would be happy to hear it.

[Chandidevi]

They gave the families $700...that's all.

[The Ghost]

That they squandered in a matter of HOURS!

[MsLiz]

I believe that statement is false.

[llisa]

I have worked with kids whose parents seem very much like these children's parents. They do not have the eduction or upbringing to know how to help themselves. I helped them with parental training, form filling, contacts to get help. . . and the kids would still come to school filthy, unfed, exhausted--if they came to school at all. And this was in the US. The movie kids are in a much more dire situation.

You cannot throw money at these parents. It will just be lost or stolen or given away (as it has been). Short of taking these kids away from the parents and putting them into a good foster home (as would be done in the US) I don't know what more can be done for them. And I don't know if the Indian government does that. I am quite sure they do not have enough homes to care for all the slum kids, and all the new ones being born constantly.

A family member is a social worker and foster mother. She sees kids in similar situations put back with their parents, only to end up back in the system as their parents fall apart once again.

[harriettubman]

I assumed that's why they have a mediator who keeps asking for more money. It's one thing to make a movie and make some money but to keep upping the ante to move out of poverty is a bit much.

[Mixpixlix]

I think there's more to this story than we know. However, the kids deserve decent homes NOW. That should be the minimum provided for them and their families. If the parents aren't able to handle money (few can, think of all the lottery winners who are broke a few years later) than a trustee should be appointed who works in the families best interest NOW should take over.

This nonsense about setting up the trust for when the kids are grown. Grown into what? Malnurished, illiterate, street peddlars? It's disgusting that arrangements weren't made as soon as filming wrapped.

Where' the money in the charitable trust going. With funds like that Habitat for Humanity could have built a decent village for the whole neighborhood. Something stinks in Mumbai and it isn't the Ganges!

[HiLite]

Are some of you guys serious they should give the families more. They have offered them alot, but the families keep refusing they wanna get there hands on the kids trust fund which I hope the producers never do. For that money which was meant for the kids would be blown away just like the money that was given to the family. Housing has been bought for them but the parents are trying to exploit the kids to get more. The same thing happens here that is why child stars have trust funds here also till they get older. So greedy parents do not blow through all the money they earned. Even the adult actors have offered help to the child actors and the parents keep saying no they want cash which they will just blow through again.

[harriettubman]

I agree. No more money. The trust fund is enough. These stories are making national rounds to tug at the producer's heart and make them look shamed.

[lu102]

It's unbelievable that these incredibly greedy and uncaring filmmakers haven't bought these poor kids and their families a house. It's disgusting and i know what i will do whenever Boyle makes any movie: BOYCOTT!

[lillibelle]

This situation is, as you say, "disgusting" but your anger is somewhat misdirected. Besides donating 3/4 of a million dollars to the slum children in Mumbai, Mr. Boyle has set up a very generous trust for these children. He has also pledged to assist their families in finding new homes. This was after their parents squandered the children's earnings.

Perhaps his plans of a continued focus on Mumbai will spur the Indian government and its citizens to address the inhumane conditions in which millions of their citizens languish. It would have been easy for a filmmaker to walk away. Mr. Boyle is proving himself to be a brave, compassionate man.

[Chandidevi]

What is the source of your MISinformation? this is an outright lie.

[iconklee]

IF any of the producers of that movie were living in the STREETS, their houses would be built OVERNIGHT. THESE GUYS ARE BENEATH CONTEMPT. THE MOVIE WAS RELEASED ALMOST A YEAR AGO. BOYCOTT is right! Those kids made that movie --the govt of India should NOT let them shoot anything UNTIL they pay reparations to the City and the country --but those children, first.

[MsLiz]

Ridiculous and misinformed.

[harriettubman]

What do you want them to do next? Build them a mansion in the middle of poverty? The trust fund is ENOUGH!

[Ergon]

The 'father trying to sell his daughter' story, much repeated here by a contract's a contract conservatives, was a Murdoch newspaper stunt so that the producers of an Oscar winning Murdoch movie might avoid helping the child stars.
Come on, the movie's made 362 million dollars, which will go to HALF A BILLION when all the sales are in.

[SusanStoHelit]

The family said what they said - however it happened does not matter. Selling children is not uncommon there.

There's more than enough to show Boyle did right, and more than, by them. Gave them their pay (which their families squandered - a year's income), set up trusts for the kids when they grow up and can control the money themselves, set up education, set up housing - a temporary apartment as the homes are set up, and donated a ton of money to charities in the area that help slum kids.

It's not his fault the families are rejecting it. It DOES matter that he did right by the children, even if he cannot overcome generational poverty instantly.

[MacManLB]

Just a few million dollars could build housing for the entire neighborhood. This sh it does not make sense. How can they have hundreds of millions of dollars and yet the community is still suffering.

[llisa]

You need to look into the history of India's slums and politics. It still doesn't make any sense, but it will give you an idea of what people are up against when they try to help people like this.

[The Ghost]

Religion is at the CORE of India's problems.