'Slumdog' filmmakers give Mumbai charity $747,000

[Tab]

Source: Associated Press

MUMBAI, India – The makers of the hit movie "Slumdog Millionaire" have donated $747,500 to a charity devoted to improving the lives of street children in Mumbai, the filmmakers said Thursday.

The money will be given to Plan, an international children's charity that has been working in India since 1979.

The aim is to help educate 5,000 slum kids over the next five years.

"The bottom line is that some of the beneficiaries of the film's success have got together to make a donation which will be channeled into relatively small communities where it can hopefully have a tangible and lasting impact," producer Christian Colson told The Associated Press by e-mail.

"Slumdog Millionaire," a rags-to-riches tale of a slum kid who makes it big, won eight Oscars and has grossed more than $300 million worldwide.

Some criticized the filmmakers for failing to share those riches with Mumbai's millions of slum dwellers. Others accused them of exploiting two of the movie's child stars, Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, who grew up in a wretched Mumbai slum just minutes from a posh Bollywood enclave.

The filmmakers' initial efforts to help the families of Rubina, 9, and Azharuddin, 10, were thwarted by excessive media attention, the changing demands of family members and the runaway success of the film.

Sudden fame and relative fortune sowed resentment in the families of the child stars and complicated relations with their neighbors.

The filmmakers feared that if they gave the families a lump sum up front the money would be squandered or extorted.

The filmmakers said Thursday they have appointed three trustees with long experience in social services to manage a trust fund for the two children. They said the children can tap the trust funds after they graduate from high school.

The Jai Ho Trust aims to ensure that the pair will get a good education, adequate housing and social support, the filmmakers said. They did not disclose the amount of the trust fund.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090416/ap_en_mo/as_india_slumdog

---

[ananda]

1. Does 747k sound like much to you?

Seems like a drop in the bucket to me..
just a sop to pacify critics.

[Tab]

2. Well, in India it'll go a long way

I'm not defending it, just reporting it.

Although I thought it was an odd number. Maybe tax-related. I mean, why not $750k?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Because it's £500,000, and it was a British production company

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8002518.stm

[Scout]

4. oh for fuck's sake

would you be happy if the producers gave away all their money, possessions, clothing, etc. and killed themselves?

:eyes:

[Lucky Luciano]

5. Yes goddammit! That is the only way to prove sincerity!

:sarcasm:

[panAmerican]

6. $29.90 per child each year for 5 years

($747,500/5years)/5000 kids = $29.90 per year. They could have done a little better, having grossed over $300,000,000.

[Merlot]

7. That $29.90 will go a lot farther in Inda than it would here

And it's also $29.90 more than what those children had before.

[Toucano]

8. That comment sucks.

Don't piss all over a wonderful act of giving.

[mikelgb]

9. love it... too much money will corrupt these brown folks...

they won't know what to do with it... better set up a trust that we "manage" for them