The child artistes of multiple Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, Rubina Ali Qureshi, 9, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, are certainly having their day under the sun. The kids, who are in the capital to walk the ramp at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week for designer duo Ashima and Leena Singh here, paid an unannounced visit to the Congress headquarters here on Thursday and spent some time with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence as well.
“We came to meet Soniaji as we are her fans. As soon as we saw her we said ‘Jai Ho Sonia aunty,’” a jubilant Azharuddin said.
“We told her that we don’t have proper houses and she has promised to give us a house soon,” he added.
Rubina and Azharuddin, who hail from a Mumbai slum, played young Latika and Jamal in Danny Boyle’s film. And the two are now all set to campaign for the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We told Sonia aunty we want to campaign for the Congress and the government should do something for the welfare of the poor. Since we live in slums, we know the problems there. We want other kids like us to have a better life,” Rubina said.
Congress sources said a campaign strategy will be worked out around these kids to target slum dwellers. The Congress had earlier bought the exclusive copyright of Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar-winning song Jai Ho and has composed jingles using the song highlighting the Congress-led UPA government’s achievements.
Rubina said meeting Sonia would not have been possible if it were not for Leena. “Leena aunty had promised us she would try her best to ensure that we meet her,” Rubina said.
Singh, who accompanied the kids to meet the Congress president said, “We told Soniaji that these children returned to the slums after travelling across the globe post the success of Slumdog Millionaire and even though the government had promised to help them, we requested Soniaji to provide the help in time.”
The designer duo has also formed an NGO — Ashima Leena Jai Ho Foundation — which will work for the welfare of slum children. “There is life beyond fashion and that is the message we want to give out,” Leena said.
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