'Slumdog Millionaire' kids will be slumdogs no more
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Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, left, poses with Rubiana Ali, who portrayed young "Latika."
Dovarganes/AP
Young cast members of the film 'Slumdog Millionaire' arrive for the 81st Academy Awards Sunday.
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They will be Slumdogs no more.
The two kid actors who broke our hearts in the Academy Award-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" are being moved out of their miserable Mumbai ghetto into real homes with roofs and doors and walls.
Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, who played the young versions of the two main characters, won't have to worry about paying the mortgage - their new digs are free. "These two children have brought laurels to the country," said Gautam Chatterjee, head of Mumbai's housing authority.
So for 10-year-old Azharuddin, it's goodbye to the tarp by a busy road that was his family home. And for 9-year-old Rubina, it's goodbye to the one room shack she shared with her family.
Details about when the families will be moved - or if they will have things we take for granted like indoor plumbing - were not known. Still, there was lots of joy in the actors' households.
"We are happy that we will have a permanent roof over our heads," said Rubina's dad, Rafiq Qureshi, told The Times of India newspaper.
Casting agents discovered Rubina and Azharuddin in the ghastly Garib Nagar slum. There was a worldwide outcry when it was discovered the kids were still living there even as the movie raked in $100 million.
Director Danny Boyle, who also won a best director Oscar, denied exploiting the child actors.
He said they were paid above local wages for 30 days of work, enrolled in school for the first time ever - and had a fund was set up to pay for their tuition, health care and "basic living costs."
Also, Fox Searchlight Pictures flew the kids and seven of the Indian children who appeared in the movie to Hollywood for the Oscar ceremony. Indian media reported the sudden generosity by Mumbai housing officials has more to do with politics than pride in the kids.
The new homes will be paid for with money from a slush fund controlled by local pols running for reelection.
Azharuddin's dad, Mohammed, said he doesn't care who pays for it. "This decision is a piece of good news for us," said the proud pop, who suffers from tuberculosis and claims the money his son earned is gone.
About half of the 18 million people who live in what's been dubbed the "New York of India" live in teeming slums that lack basic city services.