"Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle, who rushed to India on Wednesday (May 28) to help the film's child stars, was stunned when a child's father accused him of ignoring them.Some of the children have become homeless after civic authorities razed their shanties. Boyle had come down to offer them help.
However, Rafiq Qureshi, father of Rubina Ali, 9, left their meeting in anger accusing the filmmaker of neglecting them after the film's global success.
"A house is being provided for the kids...we have been listening this for the last five months...I don't see any house coming our way. The shanty that we were living in has already been razed...where are we getting a house from?
"If they are providing us a house, when are they going to do it? Our kids are literally living on the road now," an exasperated Qureshi told a news channel later.
"Slumdog" producer Christian Colson also participated in the meeting held at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences on the outskirts of the city.
"We are looking for a legal accommodation that should be held by the trust (Jai Ho) to ensure the safety of these kids and it would be properly monitored as well," a calm Boyle told the reporters.
The kids including Azharuddin Ismail M. Shaikh, 10, the main child star of the movie, apart from Rubina, were both thrown on the streets after Mumbai civic authorities demolished their shanties May 14, terming the slum unauthorised.
The producers of the multiple Oscar-award wining underdog drama had earlier announced a setting up Jai Ho Trust to look after the two child stars and ensure that they receive quality education and a house to live in.