More Trouble For Slumdog Child Stars!
Filed under: Film Flickers > Sad Sad
The poor kids of Slumdog Millionaire just can't catch a lucky break!
City workers in Mumbai bulldozed the home of child star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail on Thursday, along with about 30 other homes shacks as part of the demolition of dozens of shanties in a Mumbai slum.
According to reports, Azhar was asleep when a cop woke the 10-year-old up and told him to leave his home. A bit later his little shack and neighboring ones were destroyed!
The incident happened Thursday morning when cops and city workers arrived as part of the "slum demolition drive," which is said to be common in certain cities in India. Apparently it's a way to "keep crowding under control."
Sounds kind of fucked up to us!
Azhar reports that "A police officer took a bamboo stick to hit me, and I was frightened." Poor kid!
And Azhar's mother claims she's lived in that town for over 15 years and yet has no legal right to her land.
She reveals that "They didn't give prior notice. We didn't even get a chance to take out our belongings. I don't know what I am going to do."
But Indian officials are defending what they did. An official with the city's Bombay Municipal Corporation said that only illegaly built shanties were destroyed, not the homes which were legally owned. He added that it was all a part of a "pre-monsoon demolition drive."
Adding that "They were removed. That is the principle." Though he did comment that those who had lived in the town for more than 15 years would be relocated somewhere new to a government-built housing.
We'll believe that when we see it. But why not give any advance warning? Let the people collect what little they had?
So wrong!
And what happened to that Jai Ho trust the filmmakers setup to provide the kids with proper homes and an education????
[Image via WENN.]
That sucks! I can't believe they would do that to people and not even give them any warning ahead of time and they destroyed their homes. Obviously they're poor or they would already be living somewhere else. Why be so cruel and take away what little they had?
I thought they were being "taken care of". well…you know they're going to have take care of him now that this info has come out.
omg this breaks my heart!! the film makers SHOULD HELP!!! What the hell………….
I'm surprised your not dating them.
Its Said How These Poor Kids Wore Used As Pawns For Some Ones Sick Gain..This Is Now Getting Outta Control Someone Better Step Up And I Hope Soon Before Some Worse Happens To These Kids…
At the very least, this film has brought the everyday horror these children experience to a world wide eye. Other films have tried before, but this one broke through. So many people need help!
The 15-year promise is a joke. Only with documentation can the people in the slums prove that they have lived there, and birth certificates are only obtained by the middle-class. A very, very small portion of the people from the slums will get to take advantage of the government supplied housing. A majority of people will be worse off than they already are.
THIS IS SHAMEFUL! Why do these kids even still live in shacks after being in a Oscar winning movie? They can live on a FRACTION of what we can here in the US and still they are living in squalor? Those film makers should be ASHAMED of themselves for not BUILDING new homes for these families and giving them enough money so they don't have to work and can go to school. How can they sleep at night? I'm sure they are/will make a lot of money off of the film and its the VERY LEAST they could do for these poor kids. DISGUSTING!
It's like the critics said. These children were exploited.
you know what perez and everyone else who has commented about this - none of you know or understand the situation in india. there are a million homeless families with very young children. you read this news article coz it involves a child star…there are many many other children in far worse conditions - who dont have homes to start with, whose parents are dead and whose limbs are missing. before you start condemning such demolition projects, you need to really understand the situation the country is in..India is about 140 years behind America if you start the clocks at when each country became independent. the govt has an uphill task and it struggles to balance its many roles…seriously just lay off of this slumdog crap coz the country has far worse problems to deal with.
THIS MAKES ME SO SAD!!! WTF THEY SHOULD BE ALL LIVING IN MANSION'S BY NOW!! THAT'S SAD… IT LOOKS LIKE TO ME THAT THEY WERE ALL USED. POOR LIL KIDS!!!
ditto on kateedid.
so what, brightside, no one is supposed to be outraged at what is happening to THESE kids because at least they had a shack to live in to begin with and their poor government is behind the times? your comments make no sense to me. if people are raising awareness now, it matters not how it's being done.
Re: brightside –
okay "brightside," what the hell do you know about the situation in India? You don't think it's a problem that the biggest slum city in the world (Dharavi) will be bulldozed to make way for expensive condominiums? You don't think that the growing struggles of the poor is a problem? Wake up and get off your high horse, brightside. Anything that brings attention to the displacement of slum dwellers is a good thing.
This is outrageous!! What can we do?
Read "A Fine Balance" R. Mistry
This is the norm in India
America is so ignorant to what is going on in the world, myself included. It takes something like this to happen to a child who's a little known in order for us to open our eyes? this has been going on for centuries and nothings going to change it if we're always on the back burner saying "awww this sucks" time for change all over the world. ten year olds are supposed to be worrying about lost baseballs and getting muddy and swingsets, not their home being bulldozed by the government.
I feel so srry, oh god i love Azhar &the rest of the child star actors in Slumdog Mill &i hate seeing them like this. i hope something is done to help him.
Well you have MONEY HONEY go over there and help the child!
Perez why don't you get off the pulpit of Miss California and start a fund for these kids and their parents. You have a loud voice and following. Do something right.
I hope the filmmakers keep their word and help out these children. It is a prime example of poor children being exploited at it's best. How is it possible that these children were in a oscar award winning film, yet are still living in the slums? This outrages me!
Re: Kateedid – The directors didn't give those kids the money because they know the parent will spend most or all of the money, leaving the kid (who did the work) with nothing.
That trust is BS - do some research - it was instated by the rich movie-peeps AFTER the media got wind of all the issues. They could cry less about these kids…unless perez, you make them care. Down with Boyle!
it's sad that the director and producers of the film profited off of these kids and now they are homeless or their parents try to sell them.
Gotta LOVE Hollywood!
Welcome to India. This is more common than all of you think. and your 'outrage' will do nothing. the government in india is very corrupt. they are trying to change the image of the country, so all the slums are being demolished to make way for expensive condos, malls, etc.
this is a wakeup call for all of you. as much as you bitch about living in america, you will never ever have to deal with something like this.
Not surprising.. a similar event happened to me when I was living in Doha, Qatar.. not Mumbai by any means, but the cops kicked down our door (without any notice) to our apartment building.. told everyone they had 5 minutes to collect their things and that we were being kicked out of our apartments. After we had left they changed all the locks.. I still don't know why we were all kicked out. Its not like we weren't paying our rent! Luckily, our company got us back in to the building the next night, but the majority of the people could never return to their apartments..
Like I said.. doesn't surprise me that this type of shit happens. In some countries citizens have no rights.
I don't want to be an ass, but seriously who cares. Just cause he was in the movie slum dog he is getting this attention. This and worse happens on a daily basis. Yes, it's sad, but really let's reflect on someone a little more in need.
Oh– and one more thing. These kids have been given a trust fund for a reason.. what do you think would happen to that money if they were given it now? Parents would take it and abuse it..
ugh I am so sick and tired of these whiny fucking kids from this movie. Jesus Christ, fuck off already. Danny Boyle is NOT responsible for these children.
Gosh this is so sad. I feel so bad for all the children in India! Those kids should have gotten the most money out of ANYONE in that movie because they need it the most!
I wonder how much money these people who made this movie have made from these kids[homes,cars,phones,clothes,jewellery]why would they not help theses kids out now.Is there a chance that they will graduate I highly doubt it,this sounds like a way to get away with not giving the kids anything except publicity,kids can't live on Publicity,they need help now, not it 10 years,the rich get richer the poor stay poor.
Every story about these poor little kids in the Mumbai slums never fails to make me sad.
Watch the documentary "Born Into Brothels," - the kids are total victims of their parents' poverty and ignorance. So sad.
It is not fucked up. My whole family is from Mumbai and have been there for generations. These slums have destroyed what used to be an amazing city with fantastic beaches, clean air, coconut groves, mangroves, wide streets, virtually no crime and no pollution. No one knows exactly what a population explosion consists of until you step foot in Mumbai. The crowding is INSANE. The pictures of people hanging off trains, totally real and normal by Mumbai standards. None of these people who live on the street pay taxes. The muslim families especially keep cranking out children in the name of religion and introduce them to this horrible life (all the little kid stars in this movie that are in the middle of recent controversy are muslim). The middle class bears the burden of taxation.
The demolition of these slums is necessary to create high-rise project housing for these same people. The best part is that these families are assigned a unit in a brand new building which they subsequently RENT OUT to other people and where do they choose to live? BACK ON THE STREET AGAIN. It's all fucked up and it's totally fair to deal with it this way. How would anyone like it if central park ended up as a slum because these people have "no where to go?" It's so easy to sit here thousands of miles away and tell people how to deal with their problems.
look. the family was illegally squating on the land. they probably did get prior notice. I'm sure the word was out, but they didn't leave.
why does everyone think the filmmakers are now responsible for these children's lives? they did not sign up for adopting them. they paid them good money.
There are tons of other children in india sleeping right on the streets, but perez and most of his readers don't give a shit about them because they arent famous.
and to everyone who is saying that the filmmakers should build them homes etc etc.
why don't YOU donate your time and money to helping them? Why all the outrage toward the filmmakers? Get off your lazy asses and do something yourselves, fuckers.
Re: Akinom –
word. you are one of the only people speaking sense in this thread.
I totally agree that this horrible but you don't have all your facts straights. the slums of india need to be cleaned up and the governments are helping these families in the slums but they actually don't WANT to move out of the slums because they can make more money involving themselves in illegal activity in the slums. haha verrry confusing and complicated stuff.
How cruel…Those little kids *made* that show, their roles were way way more interesting than the adult's roles were… It must suck for them - whisked away to the Oscars, then back to the slums to 'real life' …The movie made good cash - Producer & Director Jee, Tusi Susta Hai!!!!!
Re: Akinom – i'm with akinom on this. anyway, we've all heard, how the dad tried to milk his "cashcow" daughter. and i believe the filmcrew did plenty for those kids. of course you'd love to see them live a life compareable to ours, who wouln't? but sometimes you have to step back and let the people take things in their own hand. in many cases they'd be able to change things by themselves, but don't want to. i once saw a documentary, where charity taught 2 chinese villages to build and maintain a fountain and cultivate veggies. the first village did realy good! the second' villages well was all dried up and everything they had built had fallen apart. why? the people actually expected the charity-helpers, to look after it!
it wouldn't be fair to the millions of other people in this world who have far more problems, to focus on someone you know out of a film.
THIS IS HORRIBLE….I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING….AND PPL ARE AWARE AND NO ONE DARES TO HELP..HOW MUCH MORE DO WE NEED TO HEAR ABOUT THESE TRAGEDIES THAT'S GOING ON WITH THESE KIDS…WHERE ANGIE AND BRAD??..ARENT THEY THE GO TO PPL FOR HELPING KIDS??..ADOPT ONE ..DO SOMETHING..HOW LONG CAN PPL CONTINUE TO HEAR ABOUT THIS AND SIMPLY IGNORE.
Its really sad. Whichever people came forward to promise them aid in terms of a new house or education, seem like they never made good on their promise. This is life for the poor in India, their houses are raised to the ground within minutes rendering them homeless, and then their back to putting up a makeshift shelter again, it goes on and on. They are the best examples of the phrase 'survival of the fittest'.
OMG..Thats so devesating and heartbreaking..Hollywood celebs should be adopting ppl like that too! poor kid! someone needs to save them
It's So Sad!
Re: Me Myself and I – they paid them good money?
they gave the kids enough money to buy an iPod.
maybe two.