Slumdog Millionaire team donates $900K to help Mumbai slum kids
Last Updated: Thursday, April 16, 2009 | 1:10 PM ET
CBC News
Children of the Mumbai slum where Slumdog Millionaire child actor Rubina Ali lives sing the Oscar-winning song Jai Ho in the wake of the film's eight Academy Award wins. (Gautam Singh/Associated Press)The team behind the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire has fulfilled an earlier pledge to help the poor children living in Mumbai's slums.
The filmmakers announced Thursday they are donating $900,000 to the international development charity Plan, which has been working in India for almost three decades.
The goal is to help improve help the lives of 5,000 children living in Mumbai slum communities over the next five years, including through education initiatives and training in good hygiene and sanitation.
"Having benefitted so much from the hospitality of the people of Mumbai, it is only right that some of the success of the movie be plowed back into the city in areas where it is needed most and where it can make a real difference to some lives," Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire's U.K. director, said in a statement.
Hope for donation to 'have tangible, lasting impact'
"Some of the beneficiaries of the film's success have got together to make a donation which will be channeled into relatively small communities where it can hopefully have a tangible and lasting impact," producer Christian Colson told the Associated Press by e-mail.
Bollywood star Anil Kapoor, who portrays a game show host in Slumdog Millionaire, has been a celebrity advocate for the Indian branch of the Plan charity for three years. He has donated his earnings from the film to the charity.
'Having benefitted so much from the hospitality of the people of Mumbai it is only right that some of the success of the movie be ploughed back into the city'—British director Danny Boyle
After consulting with Plan officials, the filmmakers have also established a separate fund called the Jai Ho Trust.
Named after the film's Oscar-winning song, the trust will hold an unspecified sum of money for two of the film's young stars — Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail — actual slum-dwellers who were cast in starring roles for the movie.
The fund, which will be administered by three appointed trustees with experience in social service, also aims to ensure that the two children will receive an education, have a decent home and receive support to deal with the media attention
Darling of festivals, award shows
Slumdog Millionaire — which recounts the unlikely story of a slum-dweller's rise to fame and fortune as well as the search for his true love — was the darling of the film awards season after delighting critics and audiences on the international festival circuit.
It dominated February's Oscar gala, winning eight trophies including best picture, best director (for Boyle) and best score (for star Indian composer A.R. Rahman). It has since grossed more than $300 million U.S. at theatres worldwide.
However, the film was not without its share of controversy. Some slum-dwellers were angered by the film's title and protested against it. Others were upset with the warts-and-all portrayal of some of Mumbai's poorest neighbourhoods.
Also, allegations arose that the filmmakers paid only a paltry sum to the two child actors.
At the time, Boyle and Colson shot back, saying that the children were well paid and that a fund to support them had been established a year ago, with a trust to help them in the future also in the works.
Amid overwhelming media attention to the children as the film grew ever more successful, the filmmakers had feared any lump sum payment to the children's families could be squandered or extorted.
Children cast members of Slumdog Millionaire arrive for the Oscars in 2009, clockwise from top left: Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Tanay Hemant Chheda, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press)
