MUMBAI, India - "Slumdog Millionaire" child star Rubina Ali said Saturday that her home had burned down in a fire that raged through a crowded slum in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Most of the awards that she 
received for her role as a poverty-stricken child in the Oscar-winning film were destroyed in the blaze that erupted in the Garib Nagar slum late Friday, the 12-year-old said. She said that she and other members of her family were watching television when they heard shouts of a fire and ran out of their tin-roofed shanty.
"We just grabbed what we could and dashed out. The fire spread so fast we couldn't get back in," said Rafiq Ali, Rubina's father. Rubina said she had lost all her awards and her collection of newspaper clippings and photographs from the success of the 2008 film. "It's all gone. Even my best clothes, everything," a tearful-sounding Rubina said over the telephone.
The child star said the family was yet to move into a new apartment paid for by a trust set up by the film's director, Danny Boyle. Rubina played the young Latika in "Slumdog Millionaire," the rags-to-riches blockbuster that won eight Oscars.
As of March 5, 2011, however, Ali was homeless after their shanty in Garib Nagar, an illegal slum in north Mumbai burned down in a broader fire, this despite promises more than year before that the family would be rehoused in a proper, legal house. Ali's father claimed that the sum offered by the Jai Ho Trust founded by Danny Boyle was too little to purchase an apartment in an "acceptable area." You can find another excellent article relating to the fire here
Police were investigating the cause of the fire, which left 21 people injured and 2,000 homeless. Fires often break out in Mumbai's sprawling slums, usually sparked by electrical short circuits from the many thousands of illegal power connections.
'Slumdog' star says home lost in Mumbai fire
Following the success of Slumdog Millionaire at the 2009 Academy Awards, the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority have recommended the children be rehoused, with an official saying the children had "brought laurels to the country" and deserved to be rewarded. On 25 February 2009, the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority announced that Azharuddin as well as Rubina would be given "free houses" so that they would no longer have to live in the Mumbai slum of Garib Nagar. Following this announcement, Rubina's mother, Khushi, returned to claim Rubina and wishes to move in with her to the new flat.
Now for the big question on my mind ... why the hell was this young 12 year old girl still living in the Garib Nagar slum ?
Profits for this film are outlined on Wiki and there is more information on Rubina's Wiki page as well ... a portion of which I have posted below ...
Compensation
According to the United Kingdom newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, Rubina Ali was paid £500 during filming for a month’s work on the film. A Fox Searchlight spokesman responded that for their one-month work on the film, she was paid three times the amount of an average annual salary for an adult living in their neighborhood.
On 26 January 2009, Danny Boyle (director) and Christian Colson (producer) released a written statement saying that they had “paid painstaking and considered attention to how Azhar and Rubina’s involvement in the film could be of lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work”. Boyle and Colson have stated that they have "set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education," although the exact amount of the trust funds is not known. This has also been met with criticism as there is question as to how children growing up in the slums have any expectation of being able to attend higher education, making the trust fund potentially useless.
Boyle has explained that, "We don't want to reveal exact figures about what's in the trust fund, what's in the bank account for them for when they leave school because it will make them vulnerable and a target really but it is substantial, and they will hopefully gain benefit from the film long after the film has disappeared and long after the media who are chasing them at the moment sadly have lost interest in the film and that's been our approach throughout and I think it's the right approach."
Picture perfect aren't they ...
which makes it absolutely unforgivable that these young children are still struggling on a day to day basis, in living conditions which can only be described as deplorable ... barely surviving, while almost everyone else involved in the making of this film ... continue to reap the massive rewards earned off the backs of the children.
I say again ... shame on you ... shame on you all.
The following report by Oliver Harvey of the Sun dated March 7 2009 provides a stark look into their daily lives.
SLUMDOG Millionaire child star Azharuddin Ismail yawns and emerges from his plastic-sheet shack backing on to a fetid stream of raw sewage. Dodging stray goats munching rotting onion peelings, the ten-year-old known as Azhar is at once ambushed by a fellow street urchin. Read the Full Story
