DANNY-UNCLE, WHERE'S OUR MOVIE MONEY? Slumdog director 'exploited kids'.

Byline: By Keith McLeod 

TWO child stars of Oscarnominated Slumdog Millionaire were exploited by film bosses, their families claim.

Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail were hugged on stage by other stars as they collected Golden Globe awards earlier this month.

British director Danny Boyle, who they call "Danny-uncle", said he set up trust funds for the children and paid for their education.

But the eight-year-olds, who still live a few hundred yards from each other in makeshift shacks in a Mumbai slum, say they were only paid pounds 2200 between them, much less than domestic servants.

The amount is considerably less than the Afghan child stars of The Kite Runner, who embarrassed their Hollywood producers when they disclosed they were paid just pounds 9000.

Slumdog Millionaire, which has won four Golden Globes and been nominated for 10 Oscars, is on its way to making hundreds of millions of pounds.

It tells the story of a teenager from the Mumbai slums who appears on India's version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, arousing the suspicions of the show's host and police when he exceeds everyone's expectations.

Rubina plays Latika and Azharuddin is Salim in the film's early scenes.

Rubina told how she was overwhelmed by the glamour, saying: "I am going to ask Danny-uncle to take me to London and be in more films."

But her dad Rafiq Ali Kureshi claims she was paid just pounds 500 for a year's work.

He added: "It is making so much money and so much fame and the money they paid us is nothing."

And ill Mohammed Is mail said his son Azharuddin got pounds 1700.

He went on: "There is none of the money left. It was all spent on medicines to help me fight TB. They told us there is a trust fund but we know nothing about it and have no guarantees."

Since filming, his family's shack has been demolished and the pair now sleep under tarpaulin.

Producer Christian Colson and Danny Boyle, who also directed Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, said they had "paid painstaking and considered attention to how Azhar and Rubina's involvement in the film could be of lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work".

A spokesman for the film's American distributors, Fox Searchlight, said the fees were more than three times the average annual salary an adult in their neighbourhood would receive.

They also said the children were enrolled in school for the first time after filming, had books bought for them and will be able to access their trust fund when they turn 18.

CAPTION(S):

SLUMMING IT: Rubina, main picture. Azharuddin, below left, with his parents and, left, the pair with Boyle AP