The father of one of the Slumdog Millionaire child actors has apologized for brutally slapping and kicking the boy in front of reporters.
Mohammad Ismail, 45, was photographed last week beating his 10-year-old son, Azharuddin Ismail, when the boy refused his orders to greet reporters and visitors gathered outside his lean-to shack.
Azharuddin had just returned home from the states where he walked the red carpet at the Academy Awards, and he was weary from jet lag.
“I was very sorry that I did what I did,” said Mohammad. “I was so confused and stressed by my son’s homecoming that I did not know myself for a minute. I love my boy and I am very happy to have him home.”
But Mohammad was not apologetic for demanding more money from the producers of Slumdog Millionaire, which grossed $189 million worldwide.
According to the father of another child star in Slumdog Millionaire, each child was paid $1,000 during filming, with another $25,000 going into a trust fund which they will each get, plus interest, when they turn 18. The production budget for ‘Slumdog’ was $15 million.
Azharuddin, who played Dev Patel’s little brother Salim, also receives a $30-a-month allowance and his family has been promised a new house worth $30,000.
But Zaharuddin’s father, Mohammed, who has tuberculosis and earns less than $60 a month gathering wood, wants the full amount his son is due now.
Slumdog’s producer Christian Colson insisted: “We haven’t told anybody how much money is put aside for them.”
Colson also said releasing the exact dollar amount each child gets would make them vulnerable to gangsters preying on the families.