Slumdog Millionaire makers deny allegations of child exploitation

Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson have defended themselves against allegations that they exploited child actors, in the latest round of controversy to hit the Oscar-tipped British film, Variety reports. They issued a statement yesterday in response to an article in the Daily Telegraph, which said the two eight-year-olds who played the characters of Salim and Latika as youngsters had been paid paltry amounts for their services. Both children are real-life slum dwellers from Mumbai. Rubiana Ali (Latika) was allegedly paid £500 for a year's work while Azharuddin Ismail (Salim) received £1,700, according to the children's parents. But in the statement, Boyle and producer Christian Colson said the children were enrolled in school for the first time after the film was made, while a fund had been set up to cover their education, basic living costs, healthcare and any emergencies. If they remain in school until they are 18, the children would receive another "substantial" lump sum, the statement said. "Since putting these arrangements in place more than 12 months ago, we have never sought to publicise them, and we are doing so now only in response to the questions raised by the press," Colson and Boyle said. Studio Fox Searchlight also issued a statement defending the film's makers amid concern that negative publicity could affect its chances at the Oscars, where it is competing in 10 categories. Meanwhile a Hindu group in Goa, India, yesterday filed a legal complaint against Slumdog's makers, claiming it "hurts religious sentiments". Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) lodged complaints at police stations in the cities of Margao, Panaji and Mapusa, claiming Boyle's film showed Lord Ram in particular and Indian culture in general in a bad light. Their cases named Colson, writers Simon Beaufoy and Vikas Swarup, Boyle and Indian co-director Loveleen Tandan as the perpetrators. The HJS also staged protests outside cinemas when Slumdog Millionaire opened in India last weekend.