“Latika in Slumdog Millionaire”: a little girl’s way out of the slums of India onto the red carpet of Hollywood

“Slumdog Millionaire” was a blockbuster in 2009. Director Danny Boyle’s film got four Golden Globe awards, including the Best Film and eight other Oscars. The film is not based on a true story, but it could be because it gives an authentic picture of the lives of poor Indians. It was not a difficult task for the child protagonists. They just had to play their own lives. The story of Rubina Ali, who played Latika in Slumdog Millionaire is one of the interesting stories about India. But let’s have a look behind the scenes.

The little girl from the ghetto becomes Latika, one of the protagonists in Slumdog Millionaire

Rubina Ali, who plays the small Latika in the movie, grew up in a slum in Mumbai called East-Bandra, not far from the airport. Homes made of tinfoil, wooden planks, and plastic cram at the top of a dunghill. The lucky ones have cement or brick houses. There are plenty of mosquitos in the ghetto, and every year someone dies of malaria, but typhus is not unusual either. Rats and cockroaches are a common sight in such an environment.

Life in the ghetto is the worst during the rainy monsoon season. The water level reaches up to the knees, the roofs soak, and there is a constant stench in the houses. Electricity-cuts are frequent, making it dangerous to walk on the streets. Some try to collect rainwater because there is not enough drinking water. Families need to stock groceries because almost no stores are open. And the toilet is inaccessible during this rainy two-months-period. They do not look good anyway, so many people prefer to “do their thing” along the rails.

The principal entertainment of the slum residents is television. They grow up watching Bollywood movies, idolize the Indian movie stars and dream of breaking out of their misery as an actor. Rubina dreamed of that, too, but she was sure it would become a reality one day. When the American production company looked for child actors for a new movie, it was no question that her day had come. She was nine years old when she got the role out of 1,500 children.

In the film, Latika and her two friends, Jamal and Salim, live in Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia. It covers an area of 2 km² and is perhaps home to a million people, a third of whom are Muslim. Due to Hindu-Muslim clashes, the children lose their mother and have no choice but to flee, and the three orphans get into the hand of child traffickers. They blind the prospective beggars or cut off one of their toes. Thus they can make more money out of the warm-hearted people.

The story of the Slumdog Millionaire movie

The children manage to escape, but Jamal later gets separated from Latika and Salim. He never gives up on finding Latika. Jamal finally tries his luck at the “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” quiz show as a contestant, hoping that she is watching that. The boy serving tea in a call center becomes suspicious as he knows the answer to every question. They are trying to pull the truth out of him with torture, but the truth is that Jamal did not commit any fraud. As he recalls his life to give the correct answers to the questions, we gain an insight into the harsh Indian reality.

The dream continues – the premiere of the film

All the actors and actresses of Bollywood, including film stars like Hritik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, were present at the Indian premiere. Rubina is keen to remember when these stars approached to congratulate her after the release: “Bravo Rubina, you were fantastic!” Kareena Kapoor, one of the most popular actresses, and the emerald green-eyed Hritik Roshan even got her in their arms. Legendary actor Anil Kapoor played the host of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?” in the film.

Being much more realistic, it was different from the traditional Bollywood cinema. For example, clashes like the Hindu-Muslim riots during which the mother of Jamal and Salim die happened in Bombay streets. Trafficking with disabled children also exists.

The film turned the lives of the characters upside down. They became real heroes in the slum, and everyone was dancing the choreography of “Ringa Ringa” and “Jai Ho” together.

After the Indian premiere, came the bombastic news: the entire team of the Slumdog Millionaire got an invitation to the Oscar ceremony. Before starting filming, Rubina only heard of Calcutta apart from Bombay and she thought it was the capital. Now she was about to take a flight to cross the ocean. Of course, there were plenty of things to arrange, as Rubina did not even have a birth certificate. Even her parents could not tell exactly when she was born. Not a big issue, the people in the production decided to have January 21, 1999, registered as her date of birth! Then they walked over to her uncle and told him that he would be the one to accompany the little girl to Hollywood.

Who would have imagined that once Rubina would be marching on the red carpet next to stars like Angelina Jolie, who congratulated on her acting in “Slumdog Millionaire”.

The film won 8 Oscars out of 10 nominations! 

When they returned home, crowds were excitedly waiting for the actors at the airport. For days, journalists and reporters have been rushing around them in the slums. Although the people from East-Bandra had no idea before what Oscar is, now everyone was glued to the television. They were as excited as watching the India-Pakistan cricket match.

What happened after the glamour of Hollywood?

Sonja Gandhi, the head of India’s long-established political party, invited Latika and her slum mate, Azhar, to the Delhi fashion show. Then, she got a contract to shoot a refreshment commercial in the Taj Lake Palace luxury hotel in Udaipur with Nicole Kidman.

The Slumdog Millionaire Production Company set up the Jai Ho Foundation for the children, which funded their education in an English school and opened an account for them, which they only had access to at the age of 18. That is how they intended to protect the children. Besides, Rubina and Azhar got an apartment each so they could later move out of the slum. The filmmakers also donated £ 200,000 to a charity foundation to help children in the Mumbai slums.

However, the reputation entailed several inconveniences. As usual, at such times, Rubina’s long-unseen mother showed up out of the blue after ignoring her for years. She probably smelled the opportunity to grab a part of the cake. Other fraudulent friends and false promises kept Rubina still being wary of trusting people.

Their home was robbed several times because they thought she was rich now. In addition to that, in the premiere’s year, the local authorities demolished both Azar’s and Rubina’s houses without any notification to make space for a new railroad. Rubina’s second home burned to the ground in 2011 and turned all her Oscar-related memories and the blue dress worn at the awards ceremony into ashes.

Rubina, now 20-year-old, lives a completely average life. She studies fashion design at the university. She still wants to be a Bollywood actress. But her film mate Azhar, who played Salim in the movie, got on the wrong path. He is said to be living in the ghetto again and struggles with drug problems after failing several business ventures.

“Slumdog Millionaire”: When fiction becomes a reality 

In 2012, three years after the release of the movie, the Cinderella story became true. Sushil Kumar a civil servant from Bihar state, climbed until the last question in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (Who wants to be a millionaire?). The Indians went crazy to see if a 26-year-old boy would succeed as Jamal did in the movie. And yes, he could! Kumar had been so poor before that he had no TV at home. He could only watch the quiz show at the neighbor’s house. When he got the invitation to participate, it was the first time in his life that he took a flight. He gained roundabout 100 dollars per month, and now he had just won 50 million rupees.

“You have made history. Your grit and determination have made you come so far in this show,” said Amitabh Bachan. Besides being the host, he is a legend in Bollywood film history. Many contestants are already satisfied only to meet him.

Sushil did not throw himself into big spending. He bought a generator due to power outages, a scooter, a laptop, and a plot of land. He started to build a large house for all his family members with separate bathrooms.