An undercover operation by a UK newspaper has shaken up the world of Rubina Ali and her family. The father of the child actress who played the role of the youngest version of the leading lady ‘Latika’ in Slumdog Millionaire has firmly denied trying to sell her in exchange of money for adoption.

The News of the World said Mr Rafiq Qureshi, father of the nine year old child artist, had demanded £200,000 from a wealthy family from Dubai who wanted to adopt his daughter. In fact, these were the newspaper’s reporters posing as them.

The BBC reported an appalled Mr Qureshi accusing the media of making fun of their poverty. Rubina’s father, a carpenter in Mumbai, said,” They tricked us into this fakery but we came out unscathed.”

The Sting Operation

One of the staff members of The News of the World contacted Mr Qureshi as a representative of a wealthy Arab sheikh, keen on adopting Rubina and taking her to Dubai.

As per the newspaper, around £50,000 compensation was demanded by Rajan Moore, Mr Qureshi’s brother-in-law, who is more fluent in English. In a later meeting, Mr. Qureshi is tried to increase this amount to £200,000 ($292,000). The newspaper said that he was unsatisfied with the money received from the Oscar-winning film, Slumdog Millionaire, and wanted to find a way out of life in the slums. Photographs of Mr. Wureshi and his daughter, Rubina in meeting with the reporters were also published in The News of the World.

On Monday, Mr Qureshi agreed to talk to the website of BBC News. A lengthy interview revealed his deep contempt over the attempt to trap his family into a situation of “great temptation.” He firmly denied any allegations about accepting a deal to give up his daughter for adoption or selling her.

BBC reported that the two parties met three times from Thursday to Saturday, after several phone calls were made by the undercover reporters requesting a meeting with Rubina and her father.

“In the phone calls they said a wealthy Arab couple had been moved to see the plight of Rubina on al-Jazeera TV. The sheikh and his wife were very upset to see their plight and decided to help them out. And then we agreed to meet them”, said Mr. Qureshi.

He also told BBC that he had met two men and a “memsaab”, referring to a white woman in common Indian Language.

In all, three meetings were conducted, two in Mumbai hotels and one in the family’s hut in the Bandra slums where the reporters came for a visit. It was during the last meeting on Saturday afternoon that Mr Qureshi claims to have talked to someone on the phone, who expressed gratitude for letting him adopt Rubina.

Mr. Qureshi said, “They made a call to someone, introducing him as the memsaab’s husband, the sheikh saab, and asked me to talk to him. In broken Hindi he thanked me for letting Rubina come to Dubai to live. It was then it occurred to me they were making a deal on my child. I put the phone down and told them we were leaving the hotel.”

The Pull Back

Inspite of this, the family stayed for tea with the reporters.

“At this time they went to the memsaab and came back to us with an offer of 500,000 rupees as an advance. We refused, but they kept saying if we accepted the offer the money can be arranged in five minutes”, said Mr. Qureshi.

He told BBC that the family went back home after this and “when I woke up on Sunday morning the story on me was on all the TV channels”. Mr. Qureshi says it shocked him to realize that the three people he met were actually reporters.

“I switched off my mobile phone because I knew there will be calls from the media and I didn’t have any faith in the media after what I went through on the weekend.”

“They played dirty with us, but we didn’t accept any money from them. My daughter is not for sale.”

Dinesh, a key person present at the meetings, had acted as middleman to the parties. He said he had talked to the people who had approached Rubina’s family for adoption due to Mr. Qureshi’s weak English. Also denying any confirmation of a deal to sell Rubina, he rejected accusations that he had tried to convince Mr. Qureshi into accepting the deal. He also expressed his fears that the story would bring bad name to Rubina’s family.

The media claims have surprised Mr Qureshi’s neighbours in the slums. An outraged Mohammed Shakeel said, “We know how much he loves his daughter. We may be poor but we have a lot of self-respect. We don’t sell our children no matter how big the lure is.”

“Talking to Rubina was unethical on the part of the media. Local police and child welfare committees should immediately look into the matter and take appropriate action against whoever is guilty,” said Priti Patkar, a director of Prerna, an NGO for child welfare.

Shireen Miller, an official for Delhi-based Save the Children organization said that child abuse and exploitation formed a “major issue in this part of the country and there needs to be strict laws to protect such families from agents and middlemen”.

1. Best Picture
2. Best Direction
3. Best Original Song
4. Best Original Score
5. Best Film Editing
6. Best Sound Mixing
7. Best Cinematography
8. Best Adapted Screen Play

Now what made “Slumdog Millionaire” win so many awards in a single film is the million dollar question, the entire film world is going to wonder about.  The answer is simple – a popular bottom line – a lad getting from rags to riches is a common dream, every one in the world, irrespective barriers, would like to have and this is told in the film in a fitting location like India neatly.

We can explain Best Direction by Danny Boyle, as he was impressed by the screenplay script of Simon Beaufoy (who also bagged the Oscar for Best Adapted Screen play which was based on a novel by an Indian Vikas Swarup). Best Film Editing by Chris Dickens also goes hand in hand with the shots expertly captured in film by Anthony Dod Mantle in winning Oscars.

A.R. Rehman, the Indian Maestro of film music, has bagged two awards for Best Original Score and Best Song “Jai Ho…” and it was a foregone conclusion, as he made history in bagging the Golden Globe for his extraordinary work in Slumdog Millionaire.  With so many departments winning accolades individually, there is no wonder Slumdog Millionaire has become the Best Picture to be awarded with Oscar to Producer Christian Coleson.

Here is the list of the winners of the 81st Academy Oscar Awards, which was scheduled on 22nd February 2009 in the Kodak Theatre of Los Angeles.

Best adapted screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: Doubt; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Reader; Frost/Nixon

Best original screenplay: Milk
Nominated: Happy-Go-Lucky; In Bruges; Wall-E; Frozen River

Best animated feature film: Wall-E
Nominated: Kung Fu Panda; Bolt

Best animated short film: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Nominated: Oktapodi; Lavatory – Lovestory; Presto; This Way Up

Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: Frost/Nixon; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Milk; The Reader

Best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Nominated: Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler; Viola Davis – Doubt; Amy Adams – Doubt; Taraji P Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Nominated: Robert Downey Jr – Tropic Thunder; Josh Brolin – Milk; Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road; Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt

Best actress: Kate Winslet – The Reader
Nominated: Meryl Streep – Doubt; Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married; Melissa Leo – Frozen River; Angelina Jolie – Changeling

Best actor: Sean Penn – Milk
Nominated: Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon; Richard Jenkins – The Visitor; Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler; Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best director: Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: Stephen Daldry – The Reader; Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon; David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Gus Van Sant – Milk

Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Nominated: The Dark Knight; Changeling; Revolutionary Road; The Duchess

Costume design: The Duchess
Nominated: Australia; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Milk; Revolutionary Road

Make-up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Nominated: Hellboy II: The Golden Army; The Dark Knight

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: The Dark Knight; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Reader; Changeling

Best live action short film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Nominated: Manon on the Asphalt; Auf der Strecke (On The Line) ; The Pig; New Boy

Best documentary feature: Man on Wire
Nominated: Encounters at the End of the World; The Betrayal; Trouble The Water; The Garden

Best documentary short subject: Smile Pinki
Nominated: The Final Inch; The Conscience of Nhem En; The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Nominated: Iron Man; The Dark Knight

Sound editing: The Dark Knight
Nominated: Iron Man; Slumdog Millionaire; Wanted; Wall-E

Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Wanted; The Dark Knight; Wall-E

Film editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; The Dark Knight; Milk

Best original score: Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Milk; Slumdog Millionaire; Defiance; Wall-E

Best original song: Jai Ho – Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated: O Saya – Slumdog Millionaire; Down To Earth – Wall-E

Best foreign language film: Departures – Japan
Nominated: Revanche – Austria; The Baader Meinhof Complex – Germany; The Class – France; Waltz With Bashir – Israel

Via

It is a revolution for the Indian Cinema – the “Bollywood” produced “Hollywood” film, Slumdog Millionaire has achieved 10 nominations for the 81st Oscar Awards, to be held on 22nd February this year.  It is also a breakthrough that an Indian Music composer, A.R. Rahman, who has already bagged the prestigious Golden Globe Award of this year for his contributions in Slumdog Millionaire, has been nominated for more than one Oscar Award for the same film.

A.R. Rahman is a familiar face in the film world, as he has worked already in some British productions like “Elizabeth : The Golden Age” in 2007 and also composed the musical “Bombay Dreams” in 2002. All over India he is very popular, irrespective of language barriers.

Totally the 10 nominations made for the Oscar Awards include – Best Film; Best Director; Best Screen Play; Best Cinematography; Best Editing; Best Sound Composing; Best Sound Recording; as also Best Music direction etc. and it will lift A.R. Rahman to dizzy heights all over the world, if he wins the Oscar.

Interesting inside news about the film, which is scheduled for release in India today, has been on the rounds and here are some for your info:

Originally the producers Warner Independent, a Division of Warner Brothers, wanted to release CDs all over the world immediately after the film was finished in May 2008.  But Fox Searchlite, the Indian film division of Fox Studio had other ideas, to release the film in theatres and picked it up from the producers.

It is always a successful theme for the celluloid – poor man getting riches overnight – since it is a dream by most of the people. Slumdog Millionaire revolves around exactly that theme. The Indian TV Game Show “Kaun Banega Crorepathi” hosted by the great Indian cinema idol Amithab Bachan as also “Who wants to be a Millionaire”, another popular TV Show in the European countries, were instrumental in selecting the bottom line of the story of Slumdog Millionaire.

The famous (rather infamous?) Mumbai slum Dharavi (the largest slum in whole Asia) was selected as the backdrop for shooting the opening scenes of chase in the film. The real slum boy of Mumbai, Azza, who has played the role of Salim, Jamal’s brother had his house bulldozed by the Municipal authorities in real times, when the shooting took place, and he was least bothered about this common occurrence in Mumbai.

The US producers have taken care of the three youngest children cast in the film – also from the slums of Mumbai and poverty-stricken – and have their schooling funded by a Trust, which will be theirs when they come up age of 16.

Director Danny Boyle was not interested to do the script “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” and agreed to do it only after he came to know that Simon Beaufoy has written the screenplay.  Beaufoy, who adopted the novel “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup, made as many as three research trips to Mumbai slums to interview the slum children. He was very much impressed by the sense of huge amount of fun, chat, laughter and community sense of the slums’ inmates and wanted them to be shown in his screenplay as it is.

Foyle coaxed the producers to allow him to translate atleast 10% of the dialogues in Hindi, but when finished it was nearly one third of the dialogue of Slumdog Millionaire.

Anil Kapoor, who is playing Prem Kumar as the host of the film’s “Who wants to be a Millionaire” program, donated his earnings to a charitable Institution Plan India, Delhi looking after the child development activities, including spreading awareness of child trafficking, abuse, educating and rehabilitating deprived children.

Anil Kapoor is a popular Indian Hindi film actor having done more than 100 Bollywood movies along with counterparts Amithab Bachan, who plays as the matinee idol of young Jamal in the film and Sharukh Khan. Both the actors have hosted the Indian version of the popular game show “Kaun Bhanega Crorepathi”. Interestingly when the role of Prem Kumar in Slumdog was offered to Sharukh Khan, he declined it, thinking that the role is too negative.

According to Boyle, car makers Mercedes-Benz wanted removal of their logo where it is shown in connection with the slum scenes in the film, as they feared it will damage the image of the luxury car brand in such a poverty-stricken background.

Boyle comments about the location where the film’s two climatic scenes were shot – Chattrapathi Shivaji Terminus Railway Station, Mumbai (formerly Victoria Terminus).  It is here that a gory terrorists’ attack took place gunning down more than 50 people in the passenger hall mercilessly on 26th November 2008.  He says that one should never link up the film scenes, which are pure entertainment to show that love conquers everything, whereas the real incident is a condemnable tragedy.

Whatever it is – “Slumdog Millionaire” has already become the talking point by Indians everywhere and a debate has already started in online blog at Amithab Bachan’s site – pro and ante – praise about the plus points and criticism of showing India’s poverty.