The day after Slumdog Millionaire's big Oscar win, much of the cast that was flown from Mumbai enjoyed their success by celebrating in Disneyland (pictured left). But only recently was some of this film's great success rightfully shared with a couple of the young cast members who so magnificently brought the fairytale story and its characters to life.

Almost a month ago, UK periodical The Telegraph ran a story highlighting the unimproved livelihoods of two of the child actors. Rubiana Ali and Azharuddin Ismail who play the youngest versions of main characters Latika and Salim respectively, were discovered to still be living in impoverished conditions in Mumbai and apparently not compensated very well for their work in the film.

The article highlights support via money that continues to come each month for books (filmmakers did help to get the children into school for the first time) as well as food. The article also notes that a trust fund was established for the child actors to receive if they are still in school when they turn 18. However, the negative here is the payment for the actual work for filming. The child actors were paid considerably less than the comparable situation when poor Afghan children starred in the film The Kite Runner. This has resulted in Rubiana and Azharuddin to still be living in the slums.

Until now that is. Danny Boyle as well as a local housing association in Mumbai have both acted to provide the actors and their families with quality residences (as reported by UK's The Daily Mail). While this sentiment is very thoughtful and fantastic, my question is why the hell didn't this happen sooner? Fox Searchlight really couldn't afford to get these kids into a nicer place? Even a hotel would have been better than their former state (as you can see in pictures evidenced in the article itself). I could understand maybe some sort of delay or hesitation with as many kids that appeared in the film, but the other central child actors are either middle class or pretty well-off in their own right. In the meantime these children who worked to make this film the genuine spectacle and wonder that it was got the shaft.

I think it's great that movement has been made by Boyle, Fox Searchilight, and Mumbai officials to keep these children safe and nourished, but the fact that the action to get them into real residences is only now just happening after the Oscar win seems like damage control to me. Boyle was obviously aware of the problems that may arise from using or not using real children from the slums for the movie when he told The LA Times "It was a difficult moral question. Do you exclude kids from the slums? If you exclude them, then it feels morally wrong. But if you include them, it raises another set of moral questions -- how do you care for them after the movie is finished?" While they were aware of this predicament, it seems very odd and disappointing that there was even one minute after this movie was finished filming that these children had to return to their impoverished homes for anything other than to pack their stuff, collect their familes and live in a real home. Anyway, it's good to see these kids getting what they deserve.