Slumdog Millionaire child actors still live in Slums

Danny Boyle's latest film Slumdog Millionaire has won four Golden Globes and was nominated for 10 Oscars, also including Best Picture and Best Director. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend you to watch Slumdog Millionaire online for free right here.

The movie is a real piece of art, the story being about a teenager whose name is Jamal, a teenager who lives in the slums of Mumbai, in India. He has the luck to be chosen to participate at "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?", the indian version of the show. After answering correctly to all the questions, except the last one, Jamal is arrested and suspected of cheating. Now he starts telling the police how he knew the answers, highlighting the most important events in his life.

The problem is that a British newspaper, The Telegraph.co.uk has published an article in which Boyle and the producers were accused of having underpaid the kid actors, writing that the money they received was less pay than many domestic servants in India were paid.

Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, two of the children, still live in the slums of India, when they were thought to live in some palaces. Their parents are so disappointed because they thought the movie would offer them a better future, not the poverty they were used to.

They can actually say that the movie brought them more pain than happines, as the local authorities demolished the illegal hut Azharuddin’s family were living in. And moreover, the money from the film has all been spent on medicines to help Azharuddin’s father in his struggle with tuberculosis.

“There is none of the money left. It was all spent on medicines to help me fight TB”

“We feel that the kids have been left behind by the film. They have told us there is a trust fund but we know nothing about it and have no guarantees.” Azharuddin’s father, Mohammed Ismail, said.

Fox Searchlight immediatley issued a statement declaring that:

"A plan has been in place for over 12 months to ensure that their experience working on Slumdog Millionaire would be of long term benefit. For 30 days work, the children were paid three times the average local annual adult salary. Last year after completing filming, they were enrolled in school for the first time and a fund was established for their future welfare, which they will receive if they are still in school when they turn 18.

"Due to the exposure and potential jeopardy created by the unwarranted press attention, we are looking into additional measures to protect Azhar and Rubina and their families. We are extremely proud of this film, and proud of the way our child actors have been treated."

After the article from Telegraph.co.uk all the media went to India to see the real conditions, to get reports and so on, and that's why Fox Searchlight took them away from cameras. So, these idiots who abused of those poor children, shouldn't they be put behind bars at least for half an year?