On April 13, 2009, my co-blogger Holly wrote a scathing article about how the Slumdog Millionaire producers apparently bailed on their very public promises to elevate the standard of living of Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, the film’s youngest child actors.
What really steamed me was the pained commentary from the father of one of the kids:
“We have been abandoned by Danny Boyle and his associates,” said Rafiq Qureshi, the father of Rubina. “He promised us a lot when the film won at the Oscars but since then no one has come to visit us.
“We’ve been given no money and no house. There is no trust fund that I’ve been told about. The monthly allowance promised to Rubina and Azhar stopped before they even went to the Oscars.
“I feel betrayed and hurt. All these promises came to nothing.”
And then one of our commenters asked this question: “If it really bothers people that much, why aren’t they putting together a charity drive of their own?”
That’s a damn fine idea.
If these kids aren’t getting a reasonable slice of the film’s $327 million worldwide earnings, we’ll pass the hat.
Actually, PayPal will pass the hat. But we’ll update you periodically on the money that’s been collected, and we’ll be looking for an appropriate relief agency in India to handle the job of getting Rubina and Azhar out of their Mumbai slums.
The rest is up to you, folks. We all sling a lot of mud around here, but it’s much easier to feel virtuous when you actually show some virtue. So give ’til it hurts. We won’t keep a penny. In fact, I’m in for the first 50 bucks.
Feel free to send this appeal (Shortcut: http://tinyurl.com/SlumdogAid) to everyone in your address book. Let’s see what we can do to make this “go viral.”
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It’s also up on Digg. So Digg it.
Annnnd forgot the link:
http://digg.com/movies/Helping_the_Slumdog_Millionaire_Children_Out
Is there any way to make sure that the children (not their parents, especially, not Azharuddin’s abusive father) will profit from these donations? I posted a link to the article that tells about Azharuddin Ismail being abused by his father (he was slapped and KICKED IN THE FACE repeatedly). I really wouldn’t want to see that violent abusive beast put his hands on that child’s money. Here’s that link again, in case anyone missed it. An article sometimes takes a while to upload:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2279435.ece?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News
I’ll pitch in when my paycheck comes through. I spent $8 to see it in the theaters, I can pay at least that much to help the slumpuppies.
what about the guy who played little jamal? weren’t there three main kids? doesn’t he get anything?
Good point. if aomeone can show me where Danny Boyle promised to get little Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (credited as “youngest Jamal” in the film) an apartment, then we’ll happily add him to the mix.
I agree with Nati. I want to make sure the money goes to the kids and not the parents, especially the father who is apparently too weakened by TB to work but can muster the strength to beat his now meal ticket son for daring to not allow his father to parade him about (for money I’m sure)while exhausted after an international flight.
I seem to recall that Ayush Mahesh Khedekar is an established child actor and doesn’t hail from the slums. It probably means he was paid more for his performance.
And yup, his wikipedia page says his mom is a teacher and his dad is an engineer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayush_Mahesh_Khedekar
Is there any way to make sure that the children (not their parents, especially, not Azharuddin’s abusive father) will profit from these donations?
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I agree. I would love to donate to these kids, so that they can at least go to a good boarding school in India (there are many in India where the kids not only live there but also earn a good education). In a coutnry where there is so much poverty, it is easy for the adults to misuse the funds that are being allocated for the kids.
Ooops! I meant country.
I’m looking into a few relief agencies in Mumbai who can make a guarantee like that. More info as I get it.
Thanks to KG and KC (initials only) for your donations. The ball is definitely rolling.
This is a great idea! I knew I loved you guys for a reason. <3
Donated. Great idea. Will try and spread the word.
Guys, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t trying to talk anyone out of donating when I mentioned Azharuddin’s father – I think we should donate regardless. If we donate, there’s at least going to be a chance that the living conditions of these children improve. It’s just that I thought that it would be great if someone were able to make sure that none of these kids are exploited again. I think Deceiver is doing a very noble thing here and I will donate.
Me too, Nati. I just didn’t want to see another headline reading “Child Actors Left Crying After Coldhearted Parents Abscond with Donations”.
Well, are we all gonna just sit here, or will we start e-mailing this to everyone we know?
Did. Done.
First time commenting on the site! Great job Deceiver (and yay about the establishment of the foundation! Let’s hope it goes through).
Question: can we get an updated total of how much has been donated to the PayPal account? I’ve thumbs-upped this post on StumbleUpon, put it on Facebook and Twitter and would love to know if there’s been any sort of impact from those =)
KC — according to the Oversneer, we’ve raised $1,200 as of this morning!
W00t w00t!
P.S. We should do something for the poor pet population for F-A-H (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) Exercise #2 in honour of PeTA’s Deceiver of the Year win. Maybe donate some cash to areas particularly terrorized by the Pests for the Entire Termination of Adorableness?
After that, maybe we can raise dough to liberate Octomom’s hostages to fortune and the E! channel. Or we could buy Madonna enough parakeets to convince her to leave the Third World and its kids alone.
Maybe get Rod Blagojevich a decent haircut? There’s no limits to what charity can accomplish, people, no limits!
I hear there’s some pirates out there in search of a new dinghy…
This is awesome. If I weren’t practically flat broke right now, I would donate (and if I get a reasonable amount of scratch soon, I will). Go Deceiver!
I will donate as soon as I get my paycheck. Since its been about a month since the article, how much have you guys raised so far?