After much consternation and accusations back and forth, Slumdog Millionaire’s producers and director have finally stepped up for the young child-actors in the film, as well as the children of Mumbai. They have announced a 500,000 pound (roughly $742,000) donation to Plan, “an international children development organization… aimed at providing healthcare and education” over a five-year period. Although the details are rough, I’m assuming that the donation is going to be targeted towards children living in Mumbai’s slums.
In addition to that donation, a trust will be provided to the two Slumdog children (Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail) in the same amount – roughly $742,000. The Slumdog producers are calling it the Jai Ho Trust, and the money will go towards housing and education.
The producers of Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire are hoping the change the lives of some real life children living in Mumbai slums.
On Thursday, the filmmakers announced they would donate of £500,000 (about $742,000) to create a five-year program aimed at providing healthcare and education for children in conjunction with Plan, an international children development organization.
“Having benefited so much from the hospitality of the people of Mumbai it is only right that some of the success of the movie be ploughed back into the city in areas where it is needed most and where it can make a real difference to some lives,” Slumdog’s director Danny Boyle said in a statement.
In addition to the £500,000, a separate trust, called the Jai Ho Trust, has been established to look after two of the film’s child stars – Rubina Ali (youngest Latika) and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (youngest Salim) – and ensure that they receive an education and have housing provided for them.
“Slumdog Millionaire has shown audiences around the world a snapshot of what life is like for one in six people on the planet,” Plan UK’s chief executive Marie Staunton said in a statement. “Education really is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty so we will focus the funds on getting children into school, keeping them there and ensuring they are healthy.”
From People Magazine
This information comes on the heels of last week’s revelation that Slumdog’s producers still hadn’t done anything for the kids. Damage control? Or perhaps they were just taking their sweet time, setting up the trust? I’ll give them some benefit of the doubt that they could have just been taking the time to set up the trust properly. But it’s probably mostly damage control. In any case, it’s good to see Danny Boyle and the producers honor their promises to these kids. We wouldn’t be so worked up over this issue if Danny Boyle hadn’t come out during the promotion of the film to claim that the kids would be taken care of with housing and education. It’s a nice touch that the producers also donated to an international aid organization that’s helping children around the world who are struggling in poverty.
Rubina and Azhar are shown with designer Ashima Lina Singh on 3/18/09 and on the runway at her shown on 3/19/09. Credit: Fame
… or maybe it’s just now that the profits are filtering through from the film – you think the distributors and movie houses who take the first cut give a rat’s posterior about promises made by the production company?
As for the time it takes to do these sorts of things; just because a gang of randomers on a number of websites want everything to happen NOW, it doesn’t mean that dealing with legalities in three different countries should take only about, what, 5 days? 😐
Those children should get a minimum of 2 million each, the movie has made almost 350 million worldwide and counting and they did do an excellent job in it. I am glad their lives have changed even without the money and they are getting more jobs.
Got to say, I do find the very unforgiving and cynical attitude on CB towards Boyle, a decent, honest and compassionate man, really very odd. Mairead makes the very sensible and realistic point that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Additionally, NONE of us know what’s been going on in the b/ground and what difficulties they might have encountered in ensuring that everything was water-tight, fraud-proof and good to go for the long-term benefit of the kids. Seems Danny and Co can’t do right for doing wrong.
You know it’s damage control because of the donation to PLAN. At least those kids are finally getting SOMETHING.
Geronimo & Mairead – I actually like Boyle when I see him in interviews, and I do think he’s probably a nice guy. It wasn’t technically necessary for Boyle or the producers to set up the trust for the kids, but giving the kids some money became part of Boyle’s promotion for the film – and he started saying it in Dec/Jan. He needed to keep his word. And it doesn’t take four months to set up a trust.
I was going to say you can’t just set up a trust overnight. it takes time. Lots of time and lots of legal loopholes especially since it has to be legal not just in America.
@Kaiser I agree.
Kaiser, I’m afraid I disagree. I’m not a solictor/lawyer, nor have I ever set up any sort of a trustfund, but I have project managed and written a fair few contracts in my time, so I’m extrapolating from the timeframe it gets me and a steering group to get things done.
It would seem to me that when you’re dealing with representatives and lawyers in at least two countries and with multiple families with varying degress of literacy it can take a good bit of time – meetings, minutes of meetings, negotiation, drafting of contracts, approval and redrafting of contracts; I would have thought it would take 4 months at a minimum. And let’s not forget the Indian government wants a bit of glory from this in rehousing the children. Dealing with that sort of bureaucracy could put a spanner in any works.
Ok, perhaps more regular meetings could take place, and at least one staff member in for each stakeholder to get things done as quickly as possible.
But we’re not privy to this aspect of the story – just members of the international press all wanting to get their cut of the story; and don’t forget you can get far more mileage out of a sob story than a good news story.
Kaiser – With respect, you can’t possibly say with any certainly that it wouldn’t have taken that length of time. Factor in endless amounts of bureaucracy, the potential for corruption, finding credible and trustworthy administrators, covering every possible loophope to ensure that any money handed over to the children could not be used for any purpose other than their care, education and welfare. That all takes time. Will have to agree to disagree on this.
Edit: Your final par. Mairead, is what I’ve found most frustrating about this, the willingness on the part of so many people to buy into the negative, with no regard whatsoever for Boyle’s good and very decent reputation. Just found it very disappointing.
Eh, maybe you’re right… but I really don’t think it’s as complicated as all of those excuses. This is most likely a trust based in India, for Indian citizens. Only the money going into the trust is foreign. There really wouldn’t be that much legal wrangling & cross-continental clusterf-ck.
Agree to disagree, etc.
Damage control. But in this case, I’m all for it.
Not to sound all “Madonna”, but I wish I could adopt that little girl. She’s just so adorable.
I hope they get more work like fashion shows (as shown here) or something like the photo shoot Rubina did w/ Nicole Kidman.
GOOD! I didn’t want to watch the film until this was sorted out… now I can go see what everyone’s been raving about
As someone in the law field who deals with things like this every day…I’m inclined to agree 100% with Mairead and Geronimo.
There are a lot of intricacies when drafting up legal documents pertaining to trusts of this scope. And you need to make sure they transcend into international law which is a wily beast in and of itself. It takes a lot of research to make sure you have the exact right language. Especially considering that they live in a country that is corrupt and there is a high chance of exploitation from within and without.
Plus, you’re giving 500,000 pounds. That’s not a couple of shillings, you want to make sure that it’s strictly for the children because if it’s not airtight, you bet someone’s gonna come out of the woodworks and try to get at it. Maybe someone’s gonna come, whisper things in the parents’ ears say “Hey, you raised him/her, don’t you think YOU really deserve it?” and then you’ve got a parent trying to assert their rights as legal guardians and these kids never touch the money. Money does very strange things to people, and when you hardly have a fleck of a penny, suddenly you’ve got access to 500,000 pounds? Anyone would be drawn in by that.
Mairead and Geronimo – spot on!
It’s very sad to see someone as genuinely decent as Danny Boyle being blamed for something that was entirely out of his hands. And giving those children’s family that much money will do nothing. They won’t be educated and they won’t live anywhere different because those opportunities aren’t available to their social class in India. It’s the very harsh truth and one that money won’t solve unfortunately.
Damage control or not, its so great to hear this wonderful news! And i agree, im giving them the benefit of the doubt- i really think they were just setting it up properly.
*nods head to Geron and Mai*
i’m glad they’re finally getting something. they deserved more, but we’ll settle for this :/. how much did mccully culkin make staring in home alone?
oh well, no matter… i’m just glad that the kids got SOMETHING. because they were a big part of the movie and they did a really good job and should be rewarded accordingly…
a lot of people here are citing all sort of auxiliary scenerios that could effect the use of the money… whether or not tehy’re going to be overwhelmed by the money, lose it, get swindled, or wipe their as with it… quite frankly… doesn’t matter… the kids EARNED their money… who are we to dictate how they should protect themselves… did we draft up careful contracts to make sure mc hammer didn’t fritter away his money? or michael jackson… or anyone else who has gotten in trouble for acquiring huge sums of money in the entertainment business?
point blank, the kids deserve the money and they should get it… and i think giving it to them in the form of a trust to be used as WE see fit is quite insulting… but i’m glad they got SOMETHING…
I don’t think it’s fair to say Boyle FINALLY did something. He cast these kids in his movie and by doing so he has changed their lives forever. He donated a lot to them, and still doing so, yet people make him out to be evil.
i wouldn’t say he’s evil… but that doesn’t hold true any more than somebody refusing a salary because they were so grateful to be hired in the first place… point is, they deserve proper payment for their work…
it is really too bad it took a lot of publicity and a lot of criticism for the bigwigs that made slumdog to finally wake up and right the errors of their ways. i can only hope they really ensure all the people they basically exploited in their movie have been given the tools to ensure they do not live in the slums anymore.
This information comes on the heels of last week’s revelation that Slumdog’s producers still hadn’t done anything for the kids. Damage control?
YES. And I’ll admit, they aren’t the first film company to withhold a film’s profits from the actors that made it. There are plenty of films where 110% of the profits are divided up among actors in an attempt to screw them out of their percentage of the revenues.
Having said that, this movie is a fabulist bit of horseshit that is so insulting in light of the current Depression.
As of 4/30/09 the kids are back in the slums!
The whole industry makes me sick. How many hundreds of millions do you have to make before 2 helpless children can finally get a ticket out of the life the whole movie made a fortune on. I encourage you to write to FOX producers and whoever else to voice your disgust at these unbelievable scheming carpetbaggers. Enough is enough! How low and wretched can you be.
I just read about the little boy star of the movie’s slum house being bulldozed. It is outrageous that the money this movie made is not being shared with these children and something not being done to improve their lives and the people in the dire conditions, living in slums in India. I call it super exploitive. A travesty!
Why set up a chrity fund? Why don’t you just pay them fairly. I will never watch your movie again ever.
I cry when I watch this movie 🙂 , I love it.