`Slumdog Millionaire' kid stars face uphill battle
source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_en_mo/as_mov_india_slumdog_kids;_ylt=AlJF76VUYggyBGDv...
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They are not your typical movie stars.
Ten-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail lives in a lean-to made of tarpaulins and blankets. Nine-year-old Rubina Ali's home is a tiny bubble-gum pink shack. A murky open sewer runs down her narrow lane.
Plucked from one of Mumbai's teeming slums to star in the Oscar-nominated hit "Slumdog Millionaire," they are India's real slumdog millionaires.
Like the film's hero, an impoverished tea seller who wins money and love on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," they now have a chance to escape the grinding poverty they were born into. But as their still-unfolding story shows, things never go as smoothly in real life.
The filmmakers are helping the children, but fast discovering that good intentions and deep pockets don't guarantee success. Meanwhile, sudden fame and relative fortune are sowing resentment within the families and with neighbors, who wonder why their big-eyed boys weren't cast instead.
The Fox Searchlight release has grossed more than $100 million, but the children's lives seem nearly as fragile as before.
"He's supposed to be the hero in the movie, but look how he's living," said Azharuddin's mother, Shameem Ismail, sitting on a rotting board outside their lean-to. "It's a zero."
About 65 million Indians, roughly a quarter of the urban population, live in slums, according to government surveys.
"Most of them are doomed to remain as they are," said Amitabh Kundu, dean of Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Social Sciences in New Delhi.
It's too early to tell whether Rubina and Azharuddin — Azhar to his friends — will buck the trend.
Ten-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail lives in a lean-to made of tarpaulins and blankets. Nine-year-old Rubina Ali's home is a tiny bubble-gum pink shack. A murky open sewer runs down her narrow lane.
Plucked from one of Mumbai's teeming slums to star in the Oscar-nominated hit "Slumdog Millionaire," they are India's real slumdog millionaires.
Like the film's hero, an impoverished tea seller who wins money and love on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," they now have a chance to escape the grinding poverty they were born into. But as their still-unfolding story shows, things never go as smoothly in real life.
The filmmakers are helping the children, but fast discovering that good intentions and deep pockets don't guarantee success. Meanwhile, sudden fame and relative fortune are sowing resentment within the families and with neighbors, who wonder why their big-eyed boys weren't cast instead.
The Fox Searchlight release has grossed more than $100 million, but the children's lives seem nearly as fragile as before.
"He's supposed to be the hero in the movie, but look how he's living," said Azharuddin's mother, Shameem Ismail, sitting on a rotting board outside their lean-to. "It's a zero."
About 65 million Indians, roughly a quarter of the urban population, live in slums, according to government surveys.
"Most of them are doomed to remain as they are," said Amitabh Kundu, dean of Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Social Sciences in New Delhi.
It's too early to tell whether Rubina and Azharuddin — Azhar to his friends — will buck the trend.
