Saturday, May 16, 2009

Quick Update On Slumdog Millionaire Kids

I wrote a couple of days ago that the young actor from Slumdog Millionaire was still living in the slum from which he was hired for his role in the movie. I turns out he has gotten a compensation package (CNN video) for his work in the movie:
The producers set up the Jai ho foundation specifically for the slum child actors. They say the children have been paid, get a stipend, a trust fund, and that the families have been offered better housing, but Ismail's mother says what is being offered is not good enough. "My son should live in a nice locality, a nice place where other stars stay," she says, "The family should own a home there." But the homes she is referring to cost millions of dollars in [Mumbai] and so far no one is offering that kind of money. So the family is staying put in the slum they know.




According to this article:
[T]he children's parents rejected the filmmakers' offer to move them from their makeshift shacks into proper apartments, demanding instead payment in cash. "Nothing would be easier than to throw money at this," says Colson. "But we felt from the beginning that that would be irresponsible." So he and Boyle (with input from the film's U.S. distributor Fox Searchlight) have hired local Indian social workers to help negotiate a solution that will relocate the families into safe and clean housing. Colson can't say how soon they'll resolve the matter, but he promises he won't quit until they do. "We are committed to this," he says. "We'll still be on this in two or three years. And you can hold me to account on that."
According to this article:
The movie's distributor, Fox Searchlight, as well as Boyle and Colson, all have responded to the Telegraph story with statements, asserting that "For 30 days' work, the children were paid three times the average local annual adult salary," and that the families have been given funds to cover "basic living costs, health care, and any other emergencies."

Boyle mentioned that he and the producers, cognizant of how a movie like Slumdog could change the kids' lives for the worse if proper care wasn't taken, had set up a trust fund for Ali and Ismail, accessible only if they enrolled in school — a first for both of them. "They’d never been to school," Boyle said. "So they have to stay in school until they're 18. When they reach 18, and if they've passed all their exams, a quite substantial sum of money — extra money [on top of their salaries] — will be released to them."
And then, of course, there is this:
Ten-year-old Slumdog Millionaire star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail was physically disciplined by his father in full view of a crowd in Mumbai, drawing an outcry from onlookers, Popeater.com reports. The actor, who played the youngest Salim in the Oscar-winning film, was reportedly slapped and kicked by his father after refusing to talk to local press.
In related news, the father of the little girl who played the young girl in the movie "considered an offer" to sell her for $300,000.

I'm starting to get a picture of parents who see these actors as nothing more than little sacks of money which they are trying to pry open. It's sad, but it's unfortunately the kind of thing you expect to hear about in India's slums.

2 comments:

  1. Just watched an update on Dateline about these kids,it is terrible that other people are making money off them and now the boy is without a home and the girl has stench on the floors! I was waiting to buy this DVD, but i know that I WILL NOT BUY nor will I view this film, until Hollywood does what is right!!!! If other would join this blacklist Hollywood might do something!

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  2. To be blunt: Your comment is dumb.

    The film producers paid the children "three times the average local annual adult salary... for 30 days' work", are giving the kids' families a monthly stipend for the rest of their days, have offered them a new apartment, and have set aside a huge trust fund for the kids when they turn 18. Do you think American child actors are treated that well by the producers they work for?

    I didn't see the Dateline program, but who is "making money" off of these kids? The parents? Yes. The parents seem to be selfish louts who are trying to cash in on their kids' fame... and much to the kids' detriment.

    But what more do you think "Hollywood" should do than care for these kids... and house these kids... and educate these kids until they turn 18?

    Seriously anon, ignorant knee jerk reactions like yours don't help things at all.

    I'm actually thinking your comment is a spam message and I almost didn't approve it because the contents of the comment seem to completely ignore everything that my blog post says... but I figure that smart people can read my post (and this comment) and will dismiss your comment as the hysterical and uninformed ranting that it is.

    p.s. I'll try and find the Dateline video on the internet to see if there is anything in it that contradicts what I wrote in my post. But that would mean that the Jai Ho Foundation was a complete lie... which I doubt.

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