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The father of a Slumdog Millionaire child actress has denied trying to sell her in what he called a "dirty" undercover operation by a UK newspaper. Rafiq Qureshi said he had not accepted a deal to sell nine-year-old Rubina Ali into adoption. The News of the World said Mr Qureshi had demanded £200,000 from its reporters, who were posing as a wealthy family from Dubai looking to adopt. Mr Qureshi told the BBC the media had "made fun of our poverty". "They tricked us into this fakery but we came out unscathed," said Rubina's father, who is a carpenter in...

On the Monday morning following the Oscars, U.S. news websites splashed the announcement that the “little film that could,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” had garnered the Best Picture of 2008 award. Buried on many of the same web sites was the news that 48 children had been rescued from prostitution and several pimps arrested during the previous week in an FBI sting operation. The juxtaposition and implied importance of the two news stories was striking. “Slumdog Millionaire,” a film that has been widely heralded for providing a glimpse into poverty in India, also briefly shines a light on child slavery. Jamal and...

One of the child actors who starred in the Oscar-winning flick "Slumdog Millionaire" received a severe beating from his dad today after the 10-year-old star refused to be put on display like a trophy. Less than a week after strutting down the red carpet in Los Angeles, actor Azharuddin Mohammed was slapped and kicked by his dad Ismail, The London Sun reported today on its Web site. "I was very sorry that I did what I did," he said afterward. "I was so confused and stressed by my son's homecoming that I did not know myself for a minute. I...

THE CAL RIPKEN PRESIDENTFebruary 25, 2009 As Obama prepared to deliver his address to Congress on Tuesday, the Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner, Fox News' Bret Baier and Charles Krauthammer all gushed that history was being made as the first African-American president appeared before Congress. Even Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom I suppose I should note was the first Indian-American to give the Republican response to a president's speech, began with an encomium to the first black president. (Wasn't Bobby great in "Slumdog Millionaire"?) Are we going to have to hear about this for the next four years? Obama is...

Slumdog is a movie about all things noble - hope, aspiration, and about the grasp being further than the reach.Slumdog Millionaire is up for the Oscars, 10 nominations strong. Being on a roll in getting some predictions right, let me risk another forecast — Slumdog will win Best Film. And it deserves to.I have been somewhat surprised at all the hoopla surrounding this India-based film, in India. Too much poverty — what, know you not, there are middle class and rich Indians also? Why do people always revel in showing India in a bad light — by showing the exploitation...