Boyle promises new houses for homeless stars
Director Danny Boyle has promised new homes to two of the youngest stars of his Oscar-winning film 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
Despite their international success, Rubina Ali, nine, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, found themselves homeless after city authorities tore down parts of their Mumbai slum.
Rubina, who played the hero’s love interest Latika, has been staying with relatives, while Azharuddin, who played the tearaway brother Salim, sheltered under tarpaulins and blankets.
After photographs of the devastated children appeared in media around the world, Boyle and and the film’s producer Christian Colson met their families to tell them they will soon have new homes.
“We’ve been trying for a long time to move them into legal accommodation,” Boyle told reporters in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, where he and Colson met the children and their families.
“Both (homes) initially rented and eventually bought by the trust and held by the trust so it’s perfectly safe and long-term.”
Boyle and Colson set up the Jai Ho Trust to ensure that Rubina and Azhar received a proper education, were well-housed and given support in coping with media attention.
But although Boyle was photographed hugging the delighted-looking children at the meeting at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Rubina’s father Rafiq Qureshi stormed out, complaining the film-makers had 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,” he said.
“After the Oscars they forgot about us. For two months we didn’t get any money.”
The makeshift house that Azharuddin lived in was pulled down by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on May 16, while Rubina’s home was demolished by railway authorities four days later.
Azharuddin’s father Ismail Mohammed said previously: “We cannot live like this under the threat of demolition. We have been told that we may be getting a free flat sometime, but we need it now.”
Nirja Mattoo, who helps oversee the children’s trust, said a new home had now been found for Azharuddin’s family.
“We are finalising the deal. Next week it should be done,” she said, adding that the search for a home for Rubina continued.
Multi-Oscar winning Slumdog was set and shot in the city, and tells the rags-to-riches story of a young man from the city’s slums who wins the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'
