Rubina Ali Tagged Articles at Cinematical
A Sad Update On the 'Slumdog Millionaire' Kids
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy »
The winds of Hollywood move at a rapid pace, quickly replacing one drama with the next. The thing is, though, the drama doesn't go away. Earlier this year, the cinematic world was buzzing over the fate of the young kids from Slumdog Millionaire. There was the culture shock between Oscar fanfare and slum life, rumors about selling Rubina Ali for profit, and the demolition of their home.
Now The Associated Press reports that the kids could lose their trust fund. It's not a case of movie people jerkitude -- it seems that Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail is only going to school 37% of the time, while Rubina Ali only makes it 27% of the time. The claimed culprit: out-of-slum jetsetting. Trust administrator Noshir Dadrawala says: "They are constantly going to Paris and Cochin and Chennai. That's fine, but go over the weekend, not at the sacrifice of school." (For Ali, travel that's presumably for her many performances and memoir PR.) If their attendance doesn't improve to 70%, their monthly $120 stipend will be stopped, and they will forfeit the later lump-sum money they're set to receive. In response, Azhar's mother Shameen says these absences are due to the death of his father this September from tuberculosis: "He would cry often, so I kept him home from school for a while" -- and that she's determined to improve his attendance and get him an education.
Fan Rant: The Slumdog Situation
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Newsstand »
Step by step, this whole story gets increasingly more ridiculous and heart-breaking. We've already told you about the Slumdog Millionaire aftermath, and how young stars Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubiana Ali have struggled in their slum-filled, post-Oscars life. Then rumors popped up that Ali's dad was trying to sell her. Since then, just last week, Ismail's house was torn down and this week, MSNBC reports that Ali's has been demolished as well.Rubina told The Associated Press: "I'm feeling bad. My house had been demolished. I'm thinking about where to sleep." And where are the houses they were promised back in February?
Award-winning films are great and all, as are realism, but none of us should accept entertainment over the welfare of those involved. It's bad enough when a language void and a desire for cheap labor leads to a Borat in Romania situation, but it's incredibly worse when it involves children.
Slumdog' Kids
Rubina Ali, a child actress in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," stands inside her house as it is demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dozens of police with bamboo batons walked around the alley where Rubina's house is located and supervised demolition crews of young men wielding sledgehammers and metal rods who tore down the shanty homes, a week after bulldozers demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, another child star of the same film, in a similar cleanup drive in a different part of the same slum. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
AP
Rubina Ali, a child actress in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," holds her prayers beads and pray as her house is demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dozens of police with bamboo batons walked around the alley where Rubina's house is located and supervised demolition crews of young men wielding sledgehammers and metal rods who tore down the shanty homes, a week after bulldozers demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, another child star of the same film, in a similar cleanup drive in a different part of the same slum. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
AP
Rubina Ali, a child actress in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," stands inside her house as it is demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dozens of police with bamboo batons walked around the alley where Rubina's house is located and supervised demolition crews of young men wielding sledgehammers and metal rods who tore down the shanty homes, a week after bulldozers demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, another child star of the same film, in a similar cleanup drive in a different part of the same slum. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
AP
Rubina Ali, a child actress in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," walks inside her house as it is demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dozens of police with bamboo batons walked around the alley where Rubina's house is located and supervised demolition crews of young men wielding sledgehammers and metal rods who tore down the shanty homes, a week after bulldozers demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, another child star of the same film, in a similar cleanup drive in a different part of the same slum. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
AP
Rubina Ali, a child actress in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," stands inside her house as it is demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dozens of police with bamboo batons walked around the alley where Rubina's house is located and supervised demolition crews of young men wielding sledgehammers and metal rods who tore down the shanty homes, a week after bulldozers demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, another child star of the same film, in a similar cleanup drive in a different part of the same slum. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
AP
Rubina Ali, a child actress in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," stands inside her house as it is demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dozens of police with bamboo batons walked around the alley where Rubina's house is located and supervised demolition crews of young men wielding sledgehammers and metal rods who tore down the shanty homes, a week after bulldozers demolished the home of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, another child star of the same film, in a similar cleanup drive in a different part of the same slum. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
AP
Rubina Ali (C), who acted as young Latika in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire", stands with her mother Munni (L) amidst the debris after their house was demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai May 20, 2009. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)
Reuters
Rubina Ali (C), who acted as young Latika in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire", stands amid the debris after her house was demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai May 20, 2009. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)
Reuters
Rubina Ali (C), who acted as young Latika in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire", picks up a wooden plank from the debris after her house was demolished by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai May 20, 2009. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)
Reuters
Munni (R), mother of Rubina Ali who played the leading lady Latika as a young child in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire", looks at her demolished house by local authorities at a slum area in Mumbai May 20, 2009. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)
Reuters
Sure, the rational voice in our heads can blame their parents, or make a million and two excuses. But the fact of the matter is, everyone is responsible for the welfare of children, and if you're going to use them for your own art or own gain, you best put more than five minutes thought to think how it will affect them. Think about the impact of the film, of the Oscars, the worlds they will be introduced and then ripped from -- to go back to a situation where they have no home, living a life that we'd all find unacceptable.
Don't choose them and titilate them with riches until they have, at the very least, a home that won't be bulldozed in the blazing heat. If you can't provide even that, look elsewhere.
Watch This: Nicole Kidman and Rubina Ali for Schweppes
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Nicole Kidman », Trailers and Clips »
Maybe it's a strange question, but: Whatever happened to Nicole Kidman? Now I'm only partly kidding when I say that, because if you look at the woman who appears in this fancy new commercial for Schweppes, she bears no resemblance to the plucky redhead who wowed us in flicks like Flirting and Dead Calm. The 'Gossips' like to blame the current state of the Aussie actress on Botox or sometimes it's the 'curse of Tom Cruise', but really, I'd love to know when did Ms. Kidman turn into the porcelain faced robot we now see before us? Now before you get all offended, keep in my mind that I actually quite like Kidman as an actress, and despite Australia's failings as a film, at least Kidman was showing some signs of life; signs that have long disappeared in this glamorous soda ad.
The commercial was directed by Elizabeth's Shekar Kapur and produced by Ridley Scott, and Kidman has been transported to an Indian palace alongside Slumdog Millionaire's Rubina Ali and Bollywood star Argun Rampal. As for the commercial, well, I'll give Kapur some credit if he was taking a gentle shot at Kidman's 2004 Chanel ad (Kidman famously pocketed $12 million to star in that commercial), since the two are almost identical. But if he's not, then what you end up with is a bit of a mess with beautiful set design -- and I'm not even getting into the implications of the 'colonial exoticism' of Indian culture that drips from every frame.
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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