Rubina Ali
Encyclopedia
Rubina Ali also known as Rubina Qureshi, is an India
n child actress who played the child version of Latika in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire
(2008), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award. Following the film's success, she was cast in the Bollywood
film Kal Kisne Dekha
(2009).
proved controversial with the producers admitting they debated whether to use real slum children in the film fearing it would distort their lives too much. Director Danny Boyle
justified the casting saying: "These people have so much prejudice against them, why should we be prejudiced against them as well?"
Critics have claimed Rubina and her co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
had been underpaid for their part in the film. This has been disputed by the film's producer, who says the actors had been paid the equivalent of a monthly salary payment for the production company's senior staff in Britain. A trust fund has been set up for the children which will be released to them when they turn eighteen, provided they continue in education until this time.
Both Azharuddin and Rubina attended the 81st Academy Awards
on 22 February 2009, along with all of the other actors who played Salim, Jamal and Latika. Azharuddin was accompanied by his mother Shameem Ismail, while Rubina was accompanied by her uncle. This was her first journey outside of Mumbai.
In March 2009, Rubina was cast in the upcoming Bollywood
film Kal Kisne Dekha
(2009), alongside her Slumdog Millionaire co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
. The film is being directed by Vivek Sharma and will feature the Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Rishi Kapoor
and Juhi Chawla
in cameo roles.
In July 2009, Rubina's autobiography Slumgirl Dreaming was published, detailing her life so far and her experience filming Slumdog Millionaire.
, Rubina Ali was paid £500 during filming for a month’s work on the film. A Fox Searchlight spokesman responded that for their one-month work on the film, she was paid three times the amount of an average annual salary for an adult living in their neighborhood.
On 26 January 2009, Danny Boyle
(director) and Christian Colson (producer) released a written statement saying that 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”. Boyle and Colson have stated that they have "set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education," although the exact amount of the trust funds is not known. This has also been met with criticism as there is question as to how children growing up in the slums have any expectation of being able to attend higher education, making the trust fund potentially useless.
Boyle has explained that, "We don't want to reveal exact figures about what's in the trust fund, what's in the bank account for them for when they leave school because it will make them vulnerable and a target really but it is substantial, and they will hopefully gain benefit from the film long after the film has disappeared and long after the media who are chasing them at the moment sadly have lost interest in the film and that's been our approach throughout and I think it's the right approach."
As of March 5, 2011, however, Ali was homeless after their shanty in Garib Nagar, an illegal slum in north Mumbai burned down in a broader fire, this despite promises more than year before that the family would be rehoused in a proper, legal house. Ali's father claimed that the sum offered by the Jai Ho Trust founded by Danny Boyle was too little to purchase an apartment in an "acceptable area."
Nominated
, living in the Garib Nagar slum near Bandra station. She continues to live in a makeshift shack in the slums. She lives with her father Rafiq, her sister Sana, her brother Abbas and her stepmother Munni. Rubina's biological mother, Khushi, left her father, Her father re-married and Rubina was raised by her father and stepmother.
Following the success of Slumdog Millionaire at the 2009 Academy Awards
, the Maharashtra
Housing Area Development Authority have recommended the children be rehoused, with an official saying the children had "brought laurels to the country" and deserved to be rewarded. On 25 February 2009, the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority announced that Azharuddin as well as Rubina would be given "free houses" so that they would no longer have to live in the Mumbai slum of Garib Nagar. Following this announcement, Rubina's mother, Khushi, returned to claim Rubina and wishes to move in with her to the new flat.
Rubina lost her shanty house near Garib Nagar (the family had still not been properly rehoused despite promises) in a fire on March 4, 2011. More than 500 huts were destroyed in the city center blaze, near the Bandra Railway Station.
The fire that broke out in one of the houses in the early evening quickly spread to around 500 houses in the locality. The fire was reported to be spreading due to strong winds blowing into the city. Link It caused her to sleep rough at a Mumbai train station and she lost all her souvenirs from the film.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n child actress who played the child version of Latika in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
(2008), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award. Following the film's success, she was cast in the Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film Kal Kisne Dekha
Kal Kisne Dekha
Music is composed by Sajid-Wajid with lyrics provided by Sameer. The music has got good reviews....
(2009).
Career
Rubina's casting in Slumdog MillionaireSlumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
proved controversial with the producers admitting they debated whether to use real slum children in the film fearing it would distort their lives too much. Director Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
justified the casting saying: "These people have so much prejudice against them, why should we be prejudiced against them as well?"
Critics have claimed Rubina and her co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail is an Indian child actor, who played the youngest version of Salim Malik in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire , for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award...
had been underpaid for their part in the film. This has been disputed by the film's producer, who says the actors had been paid the equivalent of a monthly salary payment for the production company's senior staff in Britain. A trust fund has been set up for the children which will be released to them when they turn eighteen, provided they continue in education until this time.
Both Azharuddin and Rubina attended the 81st Academy Awards
81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
on 22 February 2009, along with all of the other actors who played Salim, Jamal and Latika. Azharuddin was accompanied by his mother Shameem Ismail, while Rubina was accompanied by her uncle. This was her first journey outside of Mumbai.
In March 2009, Rubina was cast in the upcoming Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film Kal Kisne Dekha
Kal Kisne Dekha
Music is composed by Sajid-Wajid with lyrics provided by Sameer. The music has got good reviews....
(2009), alongside her Slumdog Millionaire co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail is an Indian child actor, who played the youngest version of Salim Malik in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire , for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award...
. The film is being directed by Vivek Sharma and will feature the Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Kapoor is an Indian Bollywood actor, film producer and director.-Early life:Born in Chembur Mumbai, Kapoor is the second son of film director and star Raj Kapoor. He did his schooling with his brothers at Campion School,Mumbai. His brothers are well-known actors: Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv...
and Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla
Juhi Chawla is an Indian actress, film producer and television presenter.After being crowned as the winner of the Miss India beauty contest in 1984, Chawla pursued an acting career...
in cameo roles.
In July 2009, Rubina's autobiography Slumgirl Dreaming was published, detailing her life so far and her experience filming Slumdog Millionaire.
Compensation
According to the United Kingdom newspaper, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, Rubina Ali was paid £500 during filming for a month’s work on the film. A Fox Searchlight spokesman responded that for their one-month work on the film, she was paid three times the amount of an average annual salary for an adult living in their neighborhood.
On 26 January 2009, Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
(director) and Christian Colson (producer) released a written statement saying that 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”. Boyle and Colson have stated that they have "set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education," although the exact amount of the trust funds is not known. This has also been met with criticism as there is question as to how children growing up in the slums have any expectation of being able to attend higher education, making the trust fund potentially useless.
Boyle has explained that, "We don't want to reveal exact figures about what's in the trust fund, what's in the bank account for them for when they leave school because it will make them vulnerable and a target really but it is substantial, and they will hopefully gain benefit from the film long after the film has disappeared and long after the media who are chasing them at the moment sadly have lost interest in the film and that's been our approach throughout and I think it's the right approach."
As of March 5, 2011, however, Ali was homeless after their shanty in Garib Nagar, an illegal slum in north Mumbai burned down in a broader fire, this despite promises more than year before that the family would be rehoused in a proper, legal house. Ali's father claimed that the sum offered by the Jai Ho Trust founded by Danny Boyle was too little to purchase an apartment in an "acceptable area."
Awards and honours
Won- 2009: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for Slumdog MillionaireSlumdog MillionaireSlumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
Nominated
- 2008: Black Reel Awards of 2008Black Reel Awards of 2008The following is a list of the nominees and winners of the 2008 Black Reel Awards....
- Best Ensemble for Slumdog Millionaire
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire Slumdog Millionaire Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup... |
Younger Latika | English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... & Hindi Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi... |
Slumdog Crorepati in Hindi and Naanum Kodeswaran in Tamil |
| 2009 | Kal Kisne Dekha Kal Kisne Dekha Music is composed by Sajid-Wajid with lyrics provided by Sameer. The music has got good reviews.... |
Hindi |
Personal life
Like her on-screen character, Rubina comes from one of the slums of MumbaiMumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, living in the Garib Nagar slum near Bandra station. She continues to live in a makeshift shack in the slums. She lives with her father Rafiq, her sister Sana, her brother Abbas and her stepmother Munni. Rubina's biological mother, Khushi, left her father, Her father re-married and Rubina was raised by her father and stepmother.
Following the success of Slumdog Millionaire at the 2009 Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, the Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
Housing Area Development Authority have recommended the children be rehoused, with an official saying the children had "brought laurels to the country" and deserved to be rewarded. On 25 February 2009, the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority announced that Azharuddin as well as Rubina would be given "free houses" so that they would no longer have to live in the Mumbai slum of Garib Nagar. Following this announcement, Rubina's mother, Khushi, returned to claim Rubina and wishes to move in with her to the new flat.
Rubina lost her shanty house near Garib Nagar (the family had still not been properly rehoused despite promises) in a fire on March 4, 2011. More than 500 huts were destroyed in the city center blaze, near the Bandra Railway Station.
The fire that broke out in one of the houses in the early evening quickly spread to around 500 houses in the locality. The fire was reported to be spreading due to strong winds blowing into the city. Link It caused her to sleep rough at a Mumbai train station and she lost all her souvenirs from the film.