(EMAILWIRE.COM, May 30, 2009 ) Mumbai, India - The shantytown homes of the child stars who tugged at heartstrings in the hit film Slumdog Millionaire have been torn down by armed police as part of a bid to remove all illegal slum dwellings in central Mumbai…

Two children were plucked from a life in the Mumbai slums and shot to silver screen stardom when they were chosen to play the young Latika and Salim in Danny Boyle’s colourful film Slumdog Millionaire.

The film tells the rags to riches story of a young man from the slums who wins the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and it wiped the award ceremony boards, scooping eight Oscars as well as a host of other accolades.

Since then, the children and their families have been the subject of much media interest as they returned to life in the Gareeb Nagar slum in central Mumbai. Already, nine-year- old Rubina Ali, who played Latika, has been in the news after it was leaked that her father had tried to cash in on her newfound fame and sell her.

Now, the ramshackle property in India in which Rubina and her family live has been demolished, just a week after her co-star, Azharuddin Ismail, also had his corrugated iron-and-bamboo family home razed.

More than half of Mumbai’s 18 million residents live in designated slums or illegal shanties which the authorities are unhappy with, but there is little other option, such is the shortage of properties in India.

Rubina’s shack, which was near the river in the Gareeb Nagar slum - which means ‘poor man’s colony – was one of 25 shacks to be torn down. Rubina’s father Rafiq was injured during the demolition and taken to hospital.

Work to clear illegally-built huts is a regular occurrence in Mumbai, especially before the monsoon season, which lasts from June until September. Many of the shacks are next to sewers which overflow during heavy rains.

Azharuddin’s family has since rebuilt their home.

The children are said to have received a £12,000 luxury apartment from Slumdog sound engineer Rasul Pookutty.

The property in Kerala, south India, was awarded to Rasul - who himself escaped poverty - by the local council in honour of his Oscar achievement.

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-ENDS-

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