Slumdog Child Actors Fly to Hollywood

The child actors of Slumdog Millionaire will take their first aeroplane to Hollywood to see if the movie wins any of the 10 Oscars for which it is nominated.

Walking the red carpet tomorrow will be 40 cast and crew members from the film, nominated for 10 Academy awards including best picture and best director.

Among them will be Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, and Rubina Ali Qureshi, nine. Ismail and Qureshi were both picked from Mumbai's slums to appear in the movie.

"I'm not scared," said Rubina. "I'm going to go and take a lot of pictures and show them to people over here."

Reports claimed the child actors had been exploited by the film-makers and paid pitiful wages.

Director Danny Boyle was forced to put out a statement denying the accusations, pointing out the children had been put into school for the first time after filming, and a fund had been set up to cover their costs.

Anil Kapoor, who plays the gameshow host in the movie, told the Guardian: "These things get kicked up easily in India."

Asked whether Slumdog will win any Oscars, Kapoor said he was sure it would win best original score, for music composed by AR Rahman. "He is definitely going to win. I can feel it."