the kids from Slumdog Millionaire

The beautiful child actors from Slumdog Millionaire have seen how Americans live and no longer want to live in their slum. Although their pay from the show remains in trust and they are now enrolled in private schools, their parents want money now, along with their promised homes.

From the Huffington Post:

Two of the kids, Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali, have returned to their homes in the slums. They have also gone back to their English language school, the tuition of which is part of their film payment.

On Friday Ismail was photographed getting hit by his father and as of Sunday, had taken ill, vomiting and with a temperature of 103 degrees:

He has been prescribed antibiotics by doctors, who said he is suffering from fever and exhaustion, but his condition has continued to worsen.

Azhar's neighbours have also rallied round to build an 8ft by 5ft metal structure for him to sleep under out of the sun.

The families of the two child stars have said their children are not readjusting to life back in the slums after five days of glitz and glamour in Los Angeles.

Mother Shameem Ismail said: "It has all become too much for him. He is very ill and has not recovered from going to America and all the media interest since we got back."

Rubina: "I don't want to sleep on the floor anymore. I want a proper bed and live where the air does not smell of poo. I have seen what it is like in America. Here, there is garbage everywhere, people get angry, swear and shout. I have realised how bad life is here. I just want to get out."

Azharuddin's father Mohammed, who lives in a shack, has tuberculosis and earns less than £40 a month gathering wood, said it was 'not enough' and that film director Danny Boyle should hand all the money over immediately...

He said: 'My son has taken on the world and won. I am so proud of him but I want more money.

'They promised me a new house but it hasn't happened. I'm still in the slum.

'I want the money now, it is of no use later. Mr Boyle should take care of my son.'

Although the west may criticise the families for being greedy, can you blame them?!! If I were living like that I would do anything to get out. If the kids die before they get their trust funds what good is the money? The west has made these children and Hollywood has given them hope to have what we do. Perhaps instead of seeing the movie everyone should send their $12 to a fund for improving the slums.

the kids still wearing their Oscar clothing

Azharuddin and his father live together in a makeshift tent

Azharuddin's mom cooking as night falls on the slum.

Rubina with family on Saturday

more about Slumdog Millionaire!

According to the UK newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (who played Salim as a child) was paid £700 during filming ^[119] and Rubina Ali (who played Latika as a child) £500 for a month’s work on the film. The child actors continue to live in makeshift shacks in the slums of Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai.^{[120] [121]} A Fox Searchlight spokesman has responded that for their one-month work on the film, the child actors were paid three times the amount of an average annual salary for an adult living in their neighborhood.^[120]

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From the New York Post:

MUMBAI, India - The two main child actors from Academy Award Best Picture "Slumdog Millionaire" will get new homes after it was discovered they still live in squalor, Indian authorities said.

Ali, 9, now lives in a hovel in a garbage-strewn slum in India's financial hub. Ismail, 10, sleeps under a polythene-sheet-covered roof in the same slum.