Academy Award Winning director Danny Boyle returned to Mumbai where he met up with the child star cast of Slumdog Millionaire including Rubina Ali, Azharudin Ismail, Piyush Khandekar and their family members at Hotel JWC Marriot today.
Two of the children are in the news today due to their poor attendance records at school that could jeopordize their trust funds set up by Mr Boyle and Christian Colson to provide an education, living allowance and housing for the young stars, who grew up in the slums of Mumbai.
The Jai Ho Trust requires the children to attend school for a minimum of 70% of the time. Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 11, who played a young Salim is only showing up at school 37 percent of the time and Rubina Ali, 10, played the role of a young Latika has only a 27 percent attendance rate.
“It’s pathetic,” said Mr Dadrawala, who blamed the children’s busy schedules 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.”
The Slumdog director and producer were none too happy of the news either.
“We are disappointed that Azhar and Rubina’s school attendance remains patchy. We have urged both families to honor their commitment to ensure regular school attendance,” they said. The filmmakers were in Mumbai to discuss future film projects and charity work.
Azhar’s mother claims the truancy was due to the fact that the boy lost his father to tuberculosis in September but promises he will comply with the rules.
“As long as I’m alive, I will make sure my son gets an education,” Shameen Ismail said.
While Rubina’s father, Rafiq Qureshi claimed his daughter had miss classes due to their loss of home when the slum they lived in was torn down. The girl subsequently cut her leg on some glass.
“It will not happen next time,” he said.
During the reunion earlier today, the children also got to meet New York-based Lebanese body builder George Farah.
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