When the world collectively applauded for the Slumdog children on stage at the Oscars this March, I applauded too. But in the back of my mind there remained a niggling, uneasy feeling . Everyone thought that Danny Boyle and the producers had pulled of a masterful PR coup by flying in all the child actors for the Oscars in L.A.. I could not help but think of G.B.Shaw’s “Pygmalion” . Some of the main child stars were actually from the slums in Bombay and the trip to L.A. was their first flight ever ( and maybe first vacation ever). What bothered me is that no one – certainly not most of the Western audience – would ever comprehend exactly what these kids were going to return to , once the Oscar high was over.

When the kids returned, Mohammed Azharuddin was slapped by his father in full view of the press for the “crime” of being too jet lagged to deal with the reporters’s questions. Rubina Ali returned to an ugly scene between her biological mother ( who left when she was very young but returned when Rubina became famous!) and her father. And in the latest scandal :

Following a sting operation by a British tabloid, nine-year-old angel-faced Rubina Ali, who starred in Slumdog Millionaire, has been caught in the midst of a tug-of-war.

Since the news broke that Rubina’s father Rafique Qureshi was allegedly trying to sell his daughter to a Saudi Sheikh for a whopping Rs 1.8 crore. (link from TOI)

Rubina’s father  Rafiq Quereshi claims that the allegation is trumped up and  stems from his estranged wife ( Rubina’s biological mother) . He further claims that he thought he was conducting a transaction for Rubina to act in another film and that he has no intentions of selling her.Per the Indian express, Quereshi has been arrested.

(tip Videsh via Tipster)

Indian cops spent several hours quizzing Qureshi and are now on a prowl to obtain video recordings of the meeting at which the deal was supposedly brokered, reports ‘The Sun’.

It may turn out that the “sting” was a storm in a teacup. Rubina herself says:

I don’t know what happened. While returning my father asked me if I would like to go to Saudi Arabia. I said yes  (link)

Either way its pretty heartbreaking that things are bad enough in India that the plausibility of the story is so high. All is not lost however. Moved by hearing the story, a Quatar based business man has stepped in with the offer to pay for her education

The businessman Abdul Rehman Vanoo said, “I watched on TV that her father was trying to sell her to an Arab couple. I don’t know how true this is but I feel that the girl must be having problems because of all the developments.” According to Vanoo, he believes in her talent and that is why he decided to help her achieve her dream. “We will sponsor her education no matter how expensive it will be.” (link)

UPDATE 1: Mumbai police have cleared Quereshi

Indian police said on Wednesday they had no evidence to suggest that the father of a child star in the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” tried to sell his daughter.

(link)

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