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They claim that the eight-year-olds were poorly paid for working in the film that has won four Golden Globes, and has been nominated for 10 Oscars.
According to them, Azhauddin Ismail and Rubina Ali were paid less than many domestic servants. While Rubina is said to have been paid just 500 pounds for a year’s work, Azharuddin received 1,700 pounds.
Fox Searchlight, the film’s American distributors, disputed this by saying the fees were more than three times the average annual salary an adult in their neighbourhood would receive.
"The welfare of Azhar and Rubina has always been a top priority for everyone involved with Slumdog Millionaire,” the Telegraph quoted a spokesman as saying.
He, however, would not disclose the actual sum paid to the children.
While British director Danny Boyle has spoken of how he set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education, their families say that they have received no details of the trust funds set up in their names.
The parents say that they hoped the film would be their ticket out of the slums, but both kids continue to live in grinding poverty.
Their parents say that the film’s success made them realise how little their children had been paid. Rubina and Azharuddin live a few hundreds yards from each other in a tangle of makeshift shacks alongside Mumbai’s railway tracks at Bandra.
The illegal hut Azharuddin’s family resided in has been demolished by the local authorities, and he currently sleeps under a sheet of plastic tarpaulin with his father, who suffers from tuberculosis.
“There is none of the money left. It was all spent on medicines to help me fight TB. We feel that the kids have been left behind by the film. They have told us there is a trust fund but we know nothing about it and have no guarantees,” Azharuddin’s father, Mohammed Ismail, said.
Rubina’s father, Rafiq Ali Kureshi, a carpenter by profession, broke his leg during filming and has been out of work since.
“I am very happy the movie is doing so well, but it is making so much money and so much fame and the money they paid us is nothing. They should pay more. I have no regrets. I just had no knowledge of what she should have been paid,” he said.
Boyle and the film’s producer Christian Colson defended their arrangements for the children.
“(We have) paid painstaking and considered attention to how Azhar and Rubina’s involvement in the film could be of lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work,” they said in a written statement.
The statement added: “The children had never attended school, and in consultation with their parents we agreed that this would be our priority. Since June 2008 and at our expense, both kids have been attending school and they are flourishing under the tutelage of their dedicated and committed teachers. Financial resources have been made available for their education until they are 18. We were delighted to see them progressing well when we visited their school and met with their teachers last week.”
It further said that a “substantial lump sum” would be paid to the children on completion of their studies.
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The money is for work that they children did, not the parents, therefore the money is for the children, not the parents medicines, etc. The money is where it will be available to the children when the children are older and taking care of themselves. The parents are responsible for raising them now, not the revenues from the film. I strongly agree that the children should not be used by the parents to get out of poverty.
Payment to the poor actors should be based on total revenue of the project.What they paid should be considereda retainer.This sort of protection is needed for all who can not defend themselves.Showing this side of india is a service at a different level.Payment to small actors and extras on the basis of total revenue is needed.Americal legal system is very expensive but any young american lawyer can make a case for better agreement for these kids.n
The way I see it the parents want to use the young childrens efforts to come out of poverty. Isnt that wrong. They in the first instance agreed to make their children work for that amount so why crib now. You decide your price before you get into a project. Dont taint a person just because he is vulnerable. The way I see it is you are blackmailing a person to part with his hard earned wealth, in case he does not pay, then we go to the extent of using the media to literally show him in poor light. Now that is not right, simply not right.Imagine going to your ex-employer and stating that you have generated tons of money because of me, now give me my share of the profit. The salary you paid me was peanuts compared to the money you earned. Well that does not happen so why should this incident be an exception.
Accor to me SLUMDOG is a bakwaas movie.Nothing in it like every anti-hindu movie same British propagated secularism....Same age old false cliches. I don't think it deserved to go Oscar.The child artists have worked the best, especially the FIRST JAMAL... he is the best I think. but the movie lacks substance and only is filled with false cliches. Image Of India is battered at every possible turn... I think AB was right. I agreed more after I saw the movie.
It was a fabulous movie! Don't complain cause they showed poverty. Poverty exists all over the world. You can see it in any type of movie. All the actors were amazing. You obviously dont know what youre talking about.
Boyles, Kapoors and Patels get world wide recognition, and I am a big hike in their next projects. All because of the film doing well. These slum dwellers also did their bit and did it remarkably well. What are these guys getting when their work has been appreciated all over. They are not getting any salary hike as there would never be any more roles. Remember the actors of 'Salaam Bombay'. So why can't these guys deserve to to get some thing in returnget some money to live like a human being ( the same can not be said about Kapoor and Boyle et al), )
The child actors deserve better. They may have been used by Danny Boyle and Christian Colson, if its true what the parents said i.e. they have received no details of the trust funds set up in their names... And paying 500 pounds or 1700 pounds for a years work is absolutely appalling. London bus drivers can earn 2000 pounds a month. They directors may be legally correct, but what would slumdwellers know about contracts? At least they could have been compensated better. Indian Express please follow up on these claims that trust fund has been set up for the kid's education...
Indians have very cheap mentality, what else we could say?
Disgusting use of innocent children, just like the film they made...Did Boyle only get school funds for his work?? give me my ticket money back!!!!!
There should be an investigation into whether a trust fund was set up and the amount of the fund. Why is it the family knows nothing about it? As far as the comments about contracts, the whole theme of the movie was that the street children are being exploited in India. If the producers exploited the children, contract or no contract, it just shows the hypocrisy of the movie. The comment that the children were paid three times the pay of any adult in the neighborhood is not a valid argument . These kids were central to the story and they were the lead actors. They were not bystanders in the crowd.
These parents of the slum kids who acted in the film are not behaving correctly. Instead of capitalizing on the success of the film to have their kids go on to something better, they are concentrating on money. yes, the film is successful. The Director and other staff who worked for the producers has been paid. It is the producers who put up the money in the first place that will not reap the profit or loss. That is the rule. Why don't they ask Amitab Bachan how much he was paid for his very first film role? In fact, Elvis Presley had to pay a studio $5 to cut his first record! Instead of harassing the film-makers for more money these parents and their kids should see to "what next"?
This is TYPICAL INDIAN trait or behavior, like an autorichshaw driver or porter in the railway stations, demanding more money onve they have done their jobs. DISGUSTING to read such news
Interesting how people jump to claim their pound of flesh if a product / project is successful. Would these people come forward to contibute towards the losses if the same film had bombed? Why are we targeting Boyle and co? If he should pay the artists more just because his film is a hit, then shouldn't we take the Indian film producers to task by the same yardstick and make them share profits with all artists and technicians who don't have a share of the profits written into their contract? And why did Azharuddin's father use up all the money for his TB treatment. Perfectly fine TB treatment available free in many of our Government / Municipal hospitals. All they can do is to request for additional help which i am sure Boyle and Co. wouldn't mind doing but not in this way...
I totally agree with you. Half of these people don't even know what they are talking about it. This movie was one of the greatest movies I have ever seen in a very long time. No Indian director would have came up with this. The whole concept of the movie was fabulous. Everyone in the movie did an outstanding job and Danny Boyle went out of his way to make those children's lives a whole lot better. These kids were picked out of slums and are now talked about across the entire world. He put both of them in schools. How can these parents and neighbors ask for anymore. These children have it all now! I think Danny Boyle rocks!! Being on the that stage for the Oscars is going to be in those kids memories for the rest of their lives.
That is why they are still slumdogs. if they are not compensated well, what will happen to them.
The film is a success due to dirrection and other effects with acting contributing a measurable role. However, the question is, the producers risked their money and produced a film that not many people would have invested in. If they had offered lower compensation to the kids along with a share of profits, had the film bombed, their would have been the same accusation that the kids were mot paid enough. Since there was no contract to participate in back end profits, their can be no claim to profits by those who were paid a full salary, even though it seems small in hindsight. The profits go to the risk takers, not salaried people. However, if the producers give money as a goodness of their heart, it is their generosity. Otherwise, there is no legal or even moral claim by anyone else on their income. This is how capitalism works. Why was kids' money used by the sick (TB stricken) father? Is that not a moral crime? Those funds should have been used for the kids. It is all backwards.
I think the kids should be given their duly proportionate earning. After such success of the movie, payment to the artists is past charity. The media should bring it to the notice of the world.
Similarly, would you expect people to return the money to producer if the film fails?
It is commendable that the concerned journalist has raised questions about this aspect. It may be worthwhile to investigate this - perhaps for the journalist to visit the school - and verify the claims made by the producer's office. Now in the wake of such claims, the newspaper must play its role to ensure that the children receive their dues.
While I fully agree that kids should be paid sufficiently based on thier effort and pain taken. The movie has been successful and I am sure the Producer would have made profits and should again as good will share some amount for these kids.Having said that, there is no legal obligations for the same if above average amount has been paid. There are scores of artist in Mumbai and other leading cities who are being paid peanuts by Indian producers. Why are we attacking Boyle and team? Is it just because they are foreigners or is it because the film is doing very good.Jago India Jago... Atttitude Positive Bano an then achieve Altitude in life.
Wow...speaking as a movie-goer, if I had known these kids were really from the slum
Wow!Some of these posters must get off mentality of shaking down the white man whenever there is a chance. Why act like beggars?Do these people show the same outrage when the children are working as day laborers? How many of them are willing to share some of THEIR income with the India's poor?Given that the movie paid many times what the Indian producers pay the child actors, why is everyone still begging for more money?