Slumboy: My Life in a Bombay Shanty Town
Publisher
:
M. Lafon
Parution date
:
EAN
:
9782749911014
Number of pages
:
173
Description
***Two chapters available in English***
Azharuddin Ismael—Azhar—won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role as the youngest version of Salim Malik in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). In 2009, he is 10 years old, his striking personality and beautiful smile are now world famous, and he has left his ramshackle 4-by-8-foot home for a new apartment paid for by the Jai Ho Solidarity Trust Fund. In Slumboy, Azhar tells what his life was like before it took a fairy-tale turn toward Hollywood. We learn too what life is like for the others . . . those whose dreams are never realized, whose rags never do turn to riches.
Azhar grew up in the Bombay slum of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia. Huts are tiny and without running water, the streets are open sewers, the inhabitants support themselves with small street jobs and begging, and few hopes are ever realized. When Azhar’s parents brought him to Dharavi from their native village, they thought they could provide a better world for him. Once there, however, they saw their poor home destroyed several times by city authorities as part of the slum “cleanup” operations. Each time, the family rebuilt, using corrugated iron for walls and bamboo for the roof. Dharavi had once been a garden, so the family decided to plant a tree in front of their shack. Azhar’s father had to throw himself in front of a bulldozer to save it. After the city officials left, the tree was the only garden element that remained. But Azhar is not bitter—he tells this and many other stories of life in Dharavi, writes about his chameleon hunts, and recounts “Alina” Jolie’s kiss at the Oscars with charm, warmth, and down-to-earth humor.
The audience, seeing Azhar on screen, could not help but wonder about his offscreen life: Slumdog gives us that opportunity. We learn that Azhar didn’t have a television but that whenever he could, he went to his brother-in-law’s hut to watch the latest Bollywood movies. When it comes to cinema, he says, almost all the differences between Indians disappear. High caste, low caste, rich, poor, farmer, or head of an industrial empire—all are film addicts. Azhar’s biggest dream was to become a Bollywood actor, like his idol, the great Salman Khan. One day, a man in black comes to the shanty town to ask parents for permission to take their children to film shoots. He needs a dozen children, and Azhar’s friend Rubina is going. Film? Why not, Azhar thinks. I will certainly run into some stars there. And what if his hero Salman Khan was there? His new reality went far beyond his dreams.
Slumboy was coauthored by Azharuddin Ismael and reporter Mouhssine Ennaimi, a specialist in Indian culture.
Author
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismaël :
|