A fire that raged through the crowded Mumbai slum where Slumdog Millionaire actress Rubina Ali lived with her family claimed her home and the awards she won for the Danny Boyle-directed film.
The AFP reports that a neighbor alerted Ali’s family to the blaze late Friday, giving them enough time to escape their tin-roofed shack before the flames consumed the tightly packed slum.
“I have lost everything, including books and precious belongings like awards, photographs, newspaper clippings and memorabilia from the success of the film,” Ali reportedly told the Press Trust of India.
“We spent the entire night at the railway station,” she added. “So far nobody has come to help us.”
The 12-year-old Mumbai native and her Slumdog co-star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 13, shot to fame after starring in film, which won eight Oscars, including best picture, in 2009. Ali played the younger version of the heroine Latika, while Ismail played her love interest’s brother, Salim.
Boyle set up the Jai Ho Trust for the children after learning of the impoverished conditions they returned to after the film’s success. Some of the money had been used to pay for a new apartment that Ali and her family had yet to move into at the time of the fire.
