New Delhi - The child actors in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire who lost their shanties in a recent demolition drive in India's Mumbai city are all set to get new homes, a news report said Sunday. The housing and development authority of the western Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is capital, has promised the young stars will be given new homes before monsoon rains hit the city, the PTI news agency reported quoting officials.
The monsoon season usually begins in June and lasts until September.
Amarjeet Singh Manhas, chairman of the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority, had in February given a proposal to the state government to provide houses to the families of the Slumdog children, the report said.
The proposal was pending with the state government when the allotment ran into hurdles after national elections were announced in early March.
The model code of conduct imposed by the country's Election Commission forbids any activity that could be perceived to influence voters. The code was lifted after the polls ended May 16.
Rubina Ali Qureshi, 9, and Azharuddin Ismael Shaikh, 10, who played the youngest versions of Latika, the main female protagonist, and Salim, the hero Jamaal's brother, in the hugely successful rags- to-riches story, lost their homes over the past week.
The tiny one-room tenement where Rubina lived with her parents and siblings in the Gareebnagar (city of the poor) area behind Mumbai's Bandra railway station was one of the more than two dozen properties demolished by the railway police on Wednesday.
Azharuddin's tent-against-the-wall home was razed by municipal authorities on May 16 as part of an ongoing city clean-up drive.
Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, is largely set in Mumbai's slums. The film won eight Oscars, including best picture. It also won four Golden Globes and a host of other awards.
According to industry estimates, it has grossed 328 million dollars at the box office so far. The phenomenal success of the film led the families of the two child actors to hope it would propel them to a better future.
The film's producers have set up a trust fund for the two children to take care of their education until they are 18.
