Reality Bites for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Child Star

Little Azharuddin Mohammed rose swiftly from the slums of India to the bright lights of Hollywood after starring in the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire.”

But no sooner did he return to the slums than reality was slapping him in the face.

His own father slapped and kicked the child as horrified fans looked on.

The ten-year-old boy who was tired from yesterday’s long-haul flight from Los Angeles and had wanted to be left alone refused his father’s request to leave the shack and face curious onlookers.

Just days ago as one of the movie’s child stars he’d walked the Oscars red carpet in glamorous clothes but now back in the slums he was being kicked and slapped around the face.

The ugly scenes lasted no more than 30 seconds despite the child’s mother, who is blind in one eye, begging Ismail, 45, to stop the physical punishment.

Yelping as he tried to evade the flailing hands and feet he cowered in the corner of the ramshackle tent, that serves as the family home.

At one point Azharuddin grabbed his face in pain and finally ran off to cry after Ismail, who is infected with TB, was pulled off by neighbours. READ MORE…

licia

aww poor kid .
kalvonel

well. different culture, but I’m hoping the media is just exagerating.
mizzdallas

I remember I said something slick to my momma and she slap the dog ish out out of me so he will be ok…
iscream

I agree with Kal.. Different culture. He went back home with a Hollywood attitude and papa Joe had to slap his azz back to reality.

I don’t think its fair for America to impose their views on another Country. & I’m not one to judge another parent.
kcicero

I thought they were suppose to be buying these kids a freaking house? Is that really what happened? I mean I don’t play with my kids either and I’d be even harder on them if they were stars.

That’s how these child actors end up so crazy, everyone is saying yes, yes, yes. And something doesn’t add up, if he’s already outside of the shack in one of the pictures why would he be getting slapped for not going outside when he was clearly already out there?
Coo Coo Bananas

Damn the US and their western influence on the rest of the world! Damn! Damn! Damn!
ReadTheBlog

If they were telling us how to handle our children, we’d be insulted, so it’s probably best that we not say how other cultres treat their children is unfair, even if we don’t agree with it.
Ilovepink1981

I don’t see what the issue is, he got a beating, almost everyone does. Unless he was knocked un conscious, I don’t see the issue. He hung out with the spoiled rich kids too long
http://groups.msn.com/televisionland CaliGirlinGA

“I don’t see what the issue is, he got a beating, almost everyone does. Unless he was knocked un conscious, I don’t see the issue.”
____________________________________

The issue is that the boy got slapped because his dad saw that his meal ticket was not being cooperative. I clearly see something wrong with that. It’s been a none stop whirl wind of photos shoots, interviews, plane rides…he’s a child and wanted a moment to himself. Should he not be afforded that? Must he be paraded around to the village like some sort of prize?

Sounds kind of like a stage parent to me…living their dreams through their children and get pissed when they see the end coming.
The Divine Ms. K

Sorry, but I could understand the kid being tired. The article said the dad is pushing him to do all the interviews he can so they can get out of the slums. Slapping and kicking the kid was not neccessary.
licia

Ilovepink1981 @ i am an advocate for whupping as child’s behind when they need it , but what he got beat for wasn’t cool. if he was just acting up i think i would see it differently .
omina-homina

His father is resentful of his child. That was uncalled for. He’s damaging the child’s confidence. I’ve seen this before. The parent is ignorant and I hope the government offers the family psychological counseling because the this ‘transition’ definitely impacts the psyche and family dynamic.

The parents are the child’s best bet of having exclusive loyalty. And it makes to sense to me, with all the money the film made, that they child still has to go back to the slums. The child was a principle character…are they giving most of the earnings to the adult stars? If so, that’s not right. I hope the family can work with more people that will be genuine advocates/mentors in their social and economical well-being, because they are certainly being exploited and affected by all of this.
http://myspace.com/eastpointvet eastpointvet

yeah i think the father in a way is resentful because of the celebrity his son has. but on another note the movie is great i saw it last year at a screening and told everyone to go see it and everybody would look at me like i was crazy when i told them now everybody wanna go see it because of all the awards i tried to put yall up on game 6 months ago lol
Ilovepink1981

Anything could have happened in that hut, Im not an advocate of child abuse but I think that in this situation the information could have been provided wrong. The kid LOOKED happy in all of the pics in the US but all of a sudden he’s tired in his home country.. sounds suspicious. I understand wher some of you are coming from but I think for this istance he did something to deserve the whooping. He’s gonna rake in money for his parents whether he’s out in his village or not. From what they show on TV of middle eastern families and from what I know going to school with people from the far east, this is common, sad but true. Middle eastern men are very hard on their children, there shouldn’t be an out cry from the US because the child is now a star. There was nothing televised about a child in my home town getting a beating because he brought home a B+ and not a A. He ended up killing himself over it before he had a chance to graduate. I just think its very suspect that the child was all happy and smiles here in the US and wasn’t tired….
miamore73

I disagree with the kicking but don’t act yall ain’t been smacked upside the head before.

He’s father should have allowed him time to rest but if you talk back you get smacked back.
omina-homina

the next thing you know, the father will be holding the child back from making money, talking about “there’s nothing wrong with being poor”. There are a lot of people like that. They feel defeated as adults, not being about to meet society standards of even staying above water; but they are so selfish, ignorant, miserable and hateful that they wouldn’t even want to see their own child do better in their own lives.

Reality Bites for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Child Star

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