"Slumdog" Star Back In His Shanty Home

(CBS)  No Hollywood ending for one young star. At least, not yet.

Officials in Mumbai, India bulldozed the shanty home of "Slumdog Millionaire" child star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail Thursday.

The ten-year-old and his family moved back into what was left of their home Friday.

But CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports the young star's family apparently had another option.

Azhar went from the bright lights of Hollywood, the excitement of the red carpet and the thrill of the Oscars back to the very gritty reality of his life in Mumbai's slum.

Eight Academy Awards and $326 million in box office receipts, and lots of promises from "Slumdog" director Danny Boyle - including a trust fund set up for the child actors' education - have done very little to improve the lives of Azhar and the movie's other impoverished child star, Rubina Ali, MacVicar says.

Azhar watched as local officials demolished the shack his family called home.

He told reporters, "I was asleep when the policemen came. He threatened to beat me."

City officials say they're tearing down illegally-built shanty homes to tackle overcrowding and will re-house residents.

"We've lived here for at least fifteen years," says Azhar's mother. "They didn't show us any paperwork. They just came and started demolishing our hut."

It is, observes MacVicar, real life mirroring "Slumdog"'s cinematic story. Azhar played one of three children left homeless and vulnerable.

The Jai Ho Trust set up to help the children of the film says it offered Azhar's family an apartment last week, but that they turned it down, MacVicar points out.

For the time being, she adds, the hut has been more or less rebuilt, Azhar and his family are back in it, and nothing else has changed.

[caldwellptr]

WHERE OH WHERE is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!

[avigil2]

They were offered an apartment and turned it down? Good luck. - Posted by gronamox

There are several reasons to turn down an apt. in India and one of them is because it's in a location where work is too far away to get to. And without a vehicle to drive it would take hours just to get to work and back. Besides, we don't know where the apt. was located. It could have been in another slum with a higher crime rate.

[rrozsa]

If they were living in the US, Gloria Allred would have already filed a complaint on the kid's behalf, since it is such a high profile case. As it is, I guess even a media hog like Ms. Allred can't do anything if the kid is way over in India.

[wordsurf_08]

I guess all the events that the kids will experience in the future will just prove the core deep caste structure that rules every Rupie in India. Just because some 'shanty town prince' may have come to money, doesn't mean that he can actually spend it or live off of it. Commerce and wealth, as well as any purchasing privilige, be it candy or a tooth paste, all that is controlled by a bollywood indian mafia, that stretches out into the entire indian economy and politics.

[SusanStoHelit]

The parents will spend the money if it's not in a trust - they've demonstrated that already. And with 2 paid for apartments to choose from, they choose to live in the slum. Sure hope they're at least letting the kid get the education that they prepaid for - but I wouldn't bet on it.

There are degrees to which this type of poverty is caused by the socioeconomic situation - and degrees to which it has to do with a culture of poverty that teaches bad choices. Hopefully he gets the education that might help him stop making the same choices as his parents.

[xwingana]

Actually, Danny Boyle not only created the trust funds for the kids and paid not only for their education but transportation to and from school on a daily basis, he gave the kids father money and he pissed it away. Supposedly it was more money than the average Indian earn in five years. He's been offered two apartments and turned them down. Boyle supposedly wants to buy an apartment and put it into the trust so they can live there without any danger of the parents selling it and returning to the slums, but that wasn't acceptable to the father.

People keep trying to make Fox Searchlight and Danny Boyle the bad guys but the reality is the father has been caught on video tape physically abusing his son. The father doesn't care about the kids future, only his own. It's very sad.

No one except Danny Boyle has given thought to what is best for this kids future. You can criticize Boyle all you want but the reality is that the situation is extremely complicated as he struggles to find the right solution to the situation when all the father cares about is money for alcohol and gambling. Finding that solution, unfortunately will take time. Hopefully the Indian government will keep a close eye on this gifted child's well-being.

[gronamox]

They were offered an apartment and turned it down? Good luck.

[azure13]

your a cold hearted beast. your they type that make me jump for joy when your little worlds crashes around your head. your mother should be ashamed of the fruit of her womb. you have a big worm rotting you inside.
Posted by wtcmedic911 at 7:11 PM : May 16, 2009
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You're an idiot. There are millions and millions of these people living in those same conditions. You gonna change all of their lives? And what makes you think they want to live like you anyway?
And as another poster said, they are the cheapest mofos in the world. If they gave the kid any money, his family would suck it up and lock it away somewhere.
Start worrying about the people here in your own country who are living in the streets.

[diamruby]

We are not responsible for these people, they were paid for the work they contracted to do. If they were brougt to this country they would live just like they do now. The government & parents are responsible for the horrible conditions they live in. The foreigners that get educated in our country should be working to better their countries.

[ladyraestewa]

To everyone crying foul -- you are looking at this situation from a perspective that is based solely on your culture and experience. It is completely wrong to decide someone lives a horrific life based on those standards.

A for the Jewish being cheap comment ---are you serious? Grow up and get out of the ignorant mindset.