WTF: Dad Tries to Sell 'Slumdog' Actress?
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand
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While I've been busy trying to manage my incredibly busy (and ultra exciting) offline life, a few nuggets of WTF have managed to sneak through the "you're too busy for this sh*t" wall and lodge themselves in my brain. And when something movie-related finds its way into my brain, the only way to get rid of it is to stick my finger down my ear and vomit all over Cinematical.
With that pleasant image out of the way, have you folks been following the absolute ridiculousness surrounding these poor Slumdog Millionaire kids? Driving home last night I hear on the radio that the father of actress Rubina Ali (who played little Latika in the film) was trying to sell the child for a few hundred grand. Yup, dude was actually attempting to sell his kid in order to make one last profit off her before, ya know, Slumdog Millionaire hit the $9.99 bin at Target. According to News of the World (not the most kosher source for accurate news), Papa Wannabee Millionaire tried to sell the girl to one of their undercover reporters. Meanwhile, The Sun now reports that Rubina's father has since been arrested, and police are trying to gather more evidence, including video of the alleged kid sale. The father, however, denies all of it and claims reporters are making it up.
Now I'm far from an expert when it comes to messy families and what's right for the children, but it definitely seems like these Slumdog kids aren't in the safest situation -- especially when parents are looking to sell their kids in order to pay the bills. But what can be done? With the family provider now in jail, I'm sure things won't be getting better for Rubina -- but she's one of hundreds, thousands. How do you help these kids?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-21-2009 @ 1:51PM
Batzarro said...
As stated by yourself, these are the ones we know of. As for how to help them, it beats me. Should they be spirited away, Angelina Jolie style? Why them, when millions of others die? Because she was in a movie? That seems kind of an unfair reason. Still, I can't say that they shouldn't help a child because other children are just as badly stricken. Maybe this is the part where the co-stars from the movie should intervene. But it wouldn't surpris eme if they didn't.
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4-21-2009 @ 2:55PM
Cyhort said...
I call BS. Some shady "news"paper sets up a sting and all of a sudden that's grounds for arrest and possible prosecution? Bull. If the actual POLICE find their own evidence (that has nothing to do with what the "news"paper "discovered") then I might believe it but until then I'm giving the father the benefit of the doubt.
People are way too irrational when it comes to children. It reminds me of the stories about kindergarten teachers wiping a student after it shits itself in class or helping it change it's piss stained pants and then getting fired and thrown in jail for "sexually abusing" the kid.
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4-21-2009 @ 4:27PM
Gordon said...
It's irresponsible of you to write the headline as a statement of fact when this has not been proven to be true.
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4-21-2009 @ 5:54PM
Gary said...
It is also worth nothing that there was a case only a few weeks ago where a father in the US sold his daughter for a few bags of meat I believe.
You don't need to go to poverty stricken slums in India to see behavior like this, it is right there in your own back yard. Though I guess it is much easier to assume stuff like this does not happen in the US.
And besides, this has already been shown to have been nothing more than a press beat-up and probably a scrounging father eager for some grubby press money.
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4-21-2009 @ 10:31PM
topazgirl said...
...let's just hold our horses...this does not come from one of the most reliable sources! When we hear it from a more credible authority, we can run with it...we must be careful not to malign a probably very caring father who is not able to defend himself against "sensational journalism". Yes, these things do happen, but we do not know that this is the case in THIS situation. Let's keep in mind that the "gossip rags" love this kind of headline!