| Font Size |
He said that investors are planning to meet in London next week to decide how much money to put into a special fund and how best to distribute the cash.
“We want to set it up as soon as possible. What absolutely mustn’t happen is that the money disappears, or people think this is a PR stunt,” ‘Times Online’ quoted Boyle as saying.
The film, which tracks the story of an 18-year-old slum dweller from rags to riches, has earned millions at box office.
“This is our chance to give something back to an extraordinary city which has helped us produce an extraordinary film,” Boyle said.
“We came up with it once we realised what a success the film was becoming after the Golden Globes,” he added.
However, Boyle insisted that the fund was not being set up in response to criticism of the film regarding financial exploitation of its child stars.
Boyle said that the aim of the fund would be to help underprivileged children. The fund would distribute money to projects in Mumbai and “perhaps” the rest of India.
The movie bosses have also denied financial exploitation of its child actors.
Christian Colson, one of Slumdog’s producers said Rubina Ali, who played the young Latika, and Azharuddin Ismail, who played Salim, were paid “three times the amount of an annual adult salary” for what amounted to a month’s work.
Moreover, a substantial lump sum would be paid to the children once they reached 18 and completed their studies.
“It’s a carrot to encourage them to stay at school,” Colson added.
Boyle also said the word ‘slumdog’ wasn’t intended as an insult.
“It’s meant as ‘underdog’, the romantic idea of a guy succeeding on his own terms against all kinds of adversity,” he said.
“We tried to reflect as much of the city as we could. It’s a place of extremes. The feel-good element comes from Mumbai having this extraordinary resilience and effervescence of energy. Like New York, it’s a city that grabs you by the throat and says ‘Welcome’. I am proud of it,” he added.
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
Why is it that everybody from the western world in connivance with Indian films workers always depict the slums of our country and try to make hay from it? This gives more weightage to the image of our country as a very poor and dirty country. Why don't they depict the richness of our country. Not just the rich and successful businessmen, but also the culture, arts, music, etc. Why is it that a film, which to me is really lack-lustre in its direction, screenplay, continuity and even plot, getting so much rave and trying to get more accolades. Is the western world bent on giving awards to art-inclined films these days? And, this film is not even that. Taare Zamin Par and many other films were much better and deserved better honours. Maybe, the media must contribute too towards a better image for our country. Show me one western film which has shown dirt, slums and sleazy dens vying for and even being nominated for the oscars. And we are getting so hyped over this affair. Real pity.
would anyone count.. how many from the slums get converted for the charity...?
Well said Naradi. The media is apologetic about Hinduism and the attack on it from all quarters. Just read about aggressive conversion in AP on the net-you will be shocked at the level to which Christian missionaries have stooped to gain number of converts and the complicity of Sonia Gandhi's government. Evangical groups even show Emmanuel Rajshekar Reddy (CM of AP) on their advertisements!
Slumdogs, rock on!