Slumdog stars told go to school or lose pay

The child stars of the Oscar winning-film film Slumdog Millionaire could lose their monthly payments and their trust fund if they don't start going to school. Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 11, only turns up to school 37% of the time and Rubina Ali, nine, has a 27% attendance record, said a trustee from their fund. The pair were catapulted into the media after their 2008 blockbuster about a Mumbai teenager who grew up in the shanty towns becomes a contestant on the Indian version of the TV gameshow, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? "It's pathetic," said Noshir who helps run the Jai Ho trust e which was set up by the filmmakers to pay for an education, living allowance and housing for the young stars, who grew up in Garib Nagar (City of the Poor), one of Mumbai's worst shanty towns.

The British film directed by millionaire, Danny Boyle won eight academy awards in 2009 and has stirred up controversy about its language use, portrayals of Indians and Hinduism, and the welfare of its child actors. The filmmakers have refused to reveal the amount in the two stars’ trust fund, fearing the families would be put in danger. Both children have appeared in several adverts after Slumdog’s success, including one in which Rubina starred alongside Nicole Kidman. According to reports they are both also slated to appear in another film, Lord Owen’s Lady, about a Welsh nobleman who falls in love with an Indian lady.

Dadrawala blamed the children's busy schedule for their chronic truancy. "They are constantly going to Paris and Cochin and Chennai," he said. "That's fine, but go over the weekend, not at the sacrifice of school," he said. He said the trust decided the children would lose their monthly payment of about $120 if they did not get their attendance above 70%, the Guardian newspaper reported. If they fail to graduate, they will forgo a lump sum of cash put aside by the filmmakers to help give the children a start in life.

Azhar's mother, Shameen Ismail, said that the reason why her son had been playing truant from school over the last two months was because he was inconsolably upset after his father died in September from tuberculosis. "He would cry often, so I kept him home from school for a while," she said. She promised his attendance would improve. "As long as I'm alive, I will make sure my son gets an education," she said. The two stars were promised new apartments earlier this year after their shanty homes were torn down. Workers in Mumbai demolished the homes of both children who played the young versions of the film’s characters Salim and Latika.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children