Mumbai slums pulse to Bollywood beats at win

CHILDREN broke into Bollywood dance numbers and crowds cheered in the lanes of a teeming slum as their hometown heroes nabbed Hollywood’s highest honours.

Two of the child actors in Slumdog Millionaire were plucked from a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Mumbai to star in the rags-to-riches tale that stormed the Academy Awards.

The actors, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, and Rubina Ali, 9, were flown to Los Angeles for the ceremony, leaving their friends back home to gawk, beam, shout and dance in celebration.

“My eyes couldn’t believe that I was seeing Rubina in America,” said Saba Qureshi, Rubina’s best friend. Saba and her sisters woke before dawn to catch every minute of the Oscars, squealing with joy every time Rubina came on screen. They had one of the handful of TV sets in the neighbourhood.

Slumdog won eight Oscars, including best picture, best director, and two awards for best music — each time inspiring raucous renditions of the dance routines for which India’s movie industry is known.

“It seems like happiness is falling from the sky,” said Sohail Qureshi, Saba’s father and Rubina’s neighbour.

The Hollywood glitz, the limousines and the red carpets could not be farther away from the Bandra slum, nestled between a major road and filthy train tracks.

Azhar lives in a lean-to made of plastic tarpaulins and mouldy blankets. Rubina shares a tin-roofed shack with her parents and her six brothers and sisters. Stray dogs nap on mountains of rubbish.

While everyone in the area was excited about their local stars, some objected to the film — and its title. “I’m poor, but no one can call me a dog,” said Fakrunissa Sheikh, 40, who lives in a lean-to next to Azhar’s. “I work very hard.”

Rubina’s friends wouldn’t let talk like that cloud the big day.

“She looked like an angel,” Saba said after the TV showed Rubina smiling in a blue silk dress. “When she comes back, we will have the biggest party.”