Slumdog Millionaire...the saga continues...

Should he or should he not? Should Danny Boyle be helping the star children cast of ''Slumdog Millionaires'' or not? What is the responsibility of the producers( raking in profits) to the subject/s who/which has enabled them the access to heights of fame and glory? Well what do YOU think? Does he actually owe them something? Lets start from the beginning.....

Mr. Danny Boyle directs a movies for which he shortlists not professional actors but children from slums...namely the children get an opportunity of a life time. Subsequently he pays them their fees, and releases the movie, which goes on to become a supersuccess. He makes sure that the children get to experience some of the glory and power that comes with success by taking them to the Oscars. A few months later amidst reports of the children being homeless, he comes back to make sure that the children and their families whose houses have been razed to the ground be suitably provided for.... What does he get in return? This…..''The child artists' father walks out in a huff accusing Boyle for not helping them enough'' a magazine reported, which makes one wonder '' HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH, afterall''??

Coming back to the question ''Does he owe them something?'' On technical and legal grounds, he owes them just their predetermined fees( which, of course, should be as per industry standards, and not exploitative). On moral grounds? A lot more. And to be fair to him, I think he is doing that. Its important to note that anything and everything that he is doing for the children now after all the contractual fees has been paid, should ideally be seen as an act of concern and compassion for the children, and should be encouraged for the sheer sake of morality. No legal power in this increasingly materialistic world of ours, bound by contracts and legal formalities can make him pay up beyond the predetermined fees...hence any move that he does now, to help, needs to be recognised and encouraged, and not thrown back on the face as ''not enough''. Compassion and concern have been known to die a sure -shot premature death when they come face to face with greed, which all the spiritual texts of old cry themselves hoarse calling ''an ever- growing out- of -control animal''.

Greed is but a natural fallout of desperation. A desperate man when given a chance clings to it, refusing to relinquish. Sometimes he wants to secure his entire future on the basis of that one opportunity because life had not given him any before....that's understandable. Rubina's(the child actor) father's act of asking for more is thus understandable. Understandable, but not justified....there is a fine line between the two...What might happen in the process, which happens all too often, is that any further similar compassionate moves by others might get discouraged cause nobody wants to borrow unpleasentness simply for wanting to help.

This is where neutral parties, non biased ones, need to come in. Balance, the key word needs to define the measures being taken. Danny Boyle needs to be careful, for success always come with its associated problems. He seems to be facing the full onslaught of basic human frailities here in the form of greed, desperation, even peer pressure(by western film fraternity for not doing enough for the poor) and ever increasing demands from the parents, which Iam afraid might threaten to drown out all remenants of compassion or gratitude that he might be feeling for the children. He I feel is trying to do the needful for whatever reasons, maybe compassion, maybe peer pressure. But what about the recepients, namely the child artists or rather their parents'? Are they doing the needful ?

I wish someone would help the parents of the children see the beauty, of the opportunity that has prsented itself to them, in forms other than materialistic. How many people get such opportunities? The celebration for being the chosen ones needs to be sustained through hard work and gratitude. This can be a stepping stone to better opportunities like good education for the children.Most importantly, this opportunity has given them a chance to dream …...But they need to understand that dreams can be realised only through hard work- sustained continous hard work, and cannot rest on merely one episode of glory- one cannot go on reaping its reward all one's life!

As some wise old man put it ''To give is to be great but to accept gracefully is sometimes greater.''