From squalor to star spotting: Rubina poses with one of the film’s eight Oscars (click to enlarge)
Can’t argue with last week’s conclusion that a billion dollars is better than an Oscar. This week Danny Boyle beats that deal all to heck with an offer even more directly life-altering. The Mumbai kids gave Slumdog Millionaire its roots in reality, so its really gratifying to see the producers return the favor by making a new reality available to those kids.
The poverty stricken child stars of Slumdog Millionaire are set to be property tycoons after being promised new homes by the film’s Oscar winning director Danny Boyle and by Mumbai officials.
Boyle and producer Christian Colson told the Daily Mail that Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali and their families will be moved to apartments worth £20,000 each in the coming months. But in an astonishing turn of events, officials from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority Рa Mumbai housing association Рhave now also said they want to gift the children a new flat each. (The Daily Mail)
The full story and photos at the Mail Online will alternately warm your heart and break it. More details and photos after the cut.
“His old life: Azharuddin washes his face in a bowl of cloudy water”
Producers said they would work with an NGO to find a suitable social worker to liaise with the families to ensure the children’s wellbeing over the next few years.
Boyle said: ‘It is not about throwing cash at the problem – that doesn’t work. It is about investing in the long term. The key thing is to make sure they stay in school.
‘We want the kids to have more than wealth, we want them to have the skills that will set them up for life.’
“Azharuddin’s family are now worse off than they were when Slumdog was filmed following the demolition of their shack”
Colson and Boyle told the Daily Mail the children and their families are looking at new apartments on the edge of the area where they live.
Boyle told the Daily Mail: ‘These are bricks and mortar flats. They will have electricity, running water and good sanitation. They will still be close to their friends and extended family. Their community is very important to them, and they don’t want to move too far away from them.
‘They have looked at a number of places but like anyone choosing a home, it is taking some time for them to agree on a final one.’
The film company has also agreed to pay for a rickshaw driver to take the children to and from school every day for the next eight years – to ensure they attend.
“Azharuddin and Rubina pose with Slumdog director Danny Boyle at the Oscars”
Suddenly it doesn’t bother me so much that Slumdog took a Oscar for sound that might have gone to The Dark Knight or WALL-E.
