‘Slumdog…’ makers donate $744,000 for impoverished Indian kids

May 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The street kids of New Delhi had a rendezvous with Oscar winning sound mixer of 'Slumdog Millionaire' Resul Pookutty here last evening. Continuing his association with the rags to riches Oscar winning flick, Resul interacted with the homeless kids as part of the initiative of a self-help group 'Butterflies India', working for the cause of street children.

April 17th, 2009 LONDON - Slumdog Millionaire bosses have donated 500,000 pounds to kick off a programme aimed at educating poor kids in India. The filmmakers have teamed up with Plan, an international kids' development organisation, to create the five-year programme targeted towards providing healthcare and education.

March 31st, 2009 LONDON - Angelina Jolie is believed to have told Azharuddin Mohammed, young star of 'Slumdog Millionaire', that she may soon adopt a child from India. At last month's Oscars, the ten-year-old asked the actress if she planned to adopt an Indian orphan, reports the Sun.

March 17th, 2009 LONDON - Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor has donated his salary from Slumdog Millionaire to a children's charity. The 49-year-old actor, who played the role of a TV host in the Oscar-winning film, has donated his pay cheque to an Indian children's charity, called Plan India, which works for underprivileged kids.

March 14th, 2009 MUMBAI - Slum kid actors of Oscar winning film 'Slumdog Millionaire' Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, were awarded scholarships for free education. The initiative by a self-help group called 'We Love India' in association with D.Y.

March 12th, 2009 KOLKATA - Over 500 children from slums here were treated to a special screening of the Oscar winning movie 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Coming out of the theatre, the kids said the story of Jamal, an orphaned and poor kid, who eventually becomes a millionaire overnight after winning a television quiz show, inspired them that they too should not take slum life for granted.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor will be honoured at the seventh annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles next month. The 49-year-old actor, who played the role of TV host in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, will be honoured with the screenings of two classic films in which he stars, 1991's Lahme and 1997's Virasat, as well as Gandhi, My Father, which he produced.

March 7th, 2009 MUMBAI - Irrfan Khan, who shot to global fame with Oscar-winning 'Slumdog Millionaire' and now has another offer from its producers, said Bollywood will see more collaborations with Hollywood following the grand success of the film. 'Look at destiny.

March 2nd, 2009 MUMBAI - Hollywood stars like Meryl Streep and Brad Pitt were floored by the little kids who featured in Danny Boyle's Oscar winning 'Slumdog Millionaire', says Loveleen Tandon, the film's co-director. Rubina Ali, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Tanay Cheda were the cynosure of all eyes at the Oscars ceremony last week.

February 26th, 2009 LONDON - Dev Patel, the 'Slumdog Millionaire' star, will appear on the quiz show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' to raise money for street kids. Thesun.co.uk reports that the 18-year-old Dev will appear on the show along with director Danny Boyle.

February 25th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Wednesday exempted India-themed film 'Slumdog Millionaire', which has won eight Oscar awards, from entertainment tax in the state for one year. 'The film 'Slumdog Millionaire' has been made tax free with immediate effect in the state for a period of one year by the commercial taxes department on the instructions of Chief Minister Raman Singh,' said an official statement issued here.

February 24th, 2009 BRUSSELS - European Union Monday congratulated the makers of the film 'Slumdog Millionaire' which won eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. The film was co-funded under the EU's film support programme MEDIA.

February 22nd, 2009 LOS ANGELES - The child stars of Mumbai-set hit movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' will be celebrating two firsts this weekend: a trip on an airplane and a ticket to the Oscars Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles Sunday. 'The kids are on their way to the Oscars! Everyone is very excited,' the film's British director Danny Boyle wrote to Daily News in an email Friday.

January 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The makers of Oscar-nominated hit film 'Slumdog Millionaire' have said the welfare of child actors from the slums of Mumbai has always been a top priority for everyone involved with the movie. Reacting to some media criticism of the way Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar and Rubina Qureshi, who played the three main characters as children, had been treated, a Fox Searchlight spokesman said: 'The welfare of Azhar and Rubina has always been a top priority for everyone involved with 'Slumdog Millionaire'.' 'A plan has been in place for over 12 months to ensure that their experience working on 'Slumdog Millionaire' would be of long term benefit.

January 28th, 2009 PANAJI - A Hindu group in Goa Thursday filed three complaints with the police alleging the globally acclaimed film 'Slumdog Millionaire' 'hurts religious sentiments'. The complaints were lodged against the makers of the Golden Globe award winning film by Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) in three police stations in Margao, Panaji and Mapusa.