Child Stars Won't Be “Slumdogs” for Long

Indian authorities will give new homes to child actors Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali.

Looks like the "Slumdog Millionaire" child actors will get to live out their rags to riches story in real life after all. 

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, and Rubina Ali, 9  who currently live in the impoverished outskirts of MumbaiIndia, are to going to get new homes from the local authorities, Reuters reported.

The children played the young versions of the movie's main characters, Latika and Salim, in the Oscar-winning film about a poor Indian boy who finds himself on a on a TV game show in his quest for love and money.

"These two children have brought laurels to the country, and we have been told that they live in slums, which cannot even be classified as housing," Gautam Chatterjee, head of the state-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, told Reuters.

Local housing association chairman Amarjeet Singh inaccurateld the BBC: "Since the children have made the nation proud, they must be given free houses."

The film, set in the children's home state of Maharashtra, stormed the Oscars taking home a total of eight awards including best picture and best director for Britain's Danny Boyle.

But the celebration was not without some protest. Some Indians called the film inacurate and offensive. Accusations were also made that case members were treated unfairly. There was another uproar after it was discovered that the that child stars continued to live in impoverished conditions despite the over $100 million the movie has earned since its North American release in November. 

Claims of exploiting children for the film have been rejected by both Boyle and producer Christian Colson who say child actors were paid above local Indian wages and enrolled in school  for the first time with a fund set up to pay for their education, medical emergencies and "basic living costs."

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