'Slumdog' child stars 'to move into flats'

'Slumdog Millionaire' child actors Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Rafiq Ali Qureshi may soon leave the slums which won them their fame, it was reported today.

The state government is planning to give them flats under the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) scheme, Indian daily The Hindu claimed.

After spending a week in Los Angeles attending the Academy Awards, Azharuddin, 10, and Rubina, nine, have returned to their homes in the Garib Nagar slum in Mumbai.

Most homes there consist of a tattered makeshift shelter built of tarpaulin and cloth. They live in the crowded slum with many others who cannot afford a proper home.

Maharashtra’s chief minister, Ashok Chavan, has announced a flat each for the two child actors from the chief minister’s quota. The Mumbai unit of India’s ruling party Congress also approached the chief minister urging him to provide accommodation for the children.

Chairman of MHADA’s Mumbai Board, Amarjeet Singh Manhas, said: “The Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh directed me to take up the matter of allotting homes to the child artistes.

“Accordingly, I have written to the government and the authority for sanction. We felt that, since the children have made the nation proud, they must be given free houses,” he told The Hindu.

The children’s families were overjoyed with the decision.

Azharuddin’s father, Mohammed Ismail, told the Times of India: “This decision is definitely a piece of good news for us.”

He criticised the film-makers for not paying the children enough.

“We have barely got any money from the film-makers,” he said. “In fact, whatever came has already been spent. We do not even have a pukka wall in this shanty and our future is equally uncertain.”

The film’s director, Danny Boyle, has denied accusations of exploitation. The film-makers have repeatedly pointed out that trust funds were set up for the children and they had been sent to school.

Rubina plays the young Latika in the film, while Azharuddin plays the young Salim. Her father Rafiq is a carpenter. Azharuddin’s father Ismail trades in old furniture.