‘Absolutely accurate’

New Delhi, Feb. 24: Seventeen-year-old garbage collector Faiyad Khan claims he can relate to police’s refusal to believe Jamal Khan as they thrash and electrocute him in the multi-Oscar Slumdog Millionaire.

The brutality shown in the film is “absolutely accurate”, claims Faiyad, who says he risks police lathis daily as he rummages through mountains of garbage dumped behind Nizamuddin station here. “I just hope the movie pressurises the police and the government into greater sensitivity.”

As the country rejoices over the golden statuettes won by A.R. Rahman, Resul Pookutty and Gulzar, some among India’s millions of slum children celebrated, too.

They hope that Slumdog Millionaire can help not just make Indian cine artistes popular in the West but also shake India into action against the myriad crimes that demolish the childhood of the poor in this country.

“I am hoping the film’s success acts as a catalyst to transform the rights of poor children from a neglected subject to an issue that concerns the government and NGOs more than ever before,” said Sanjay Gupta, director of the non-profit group Chetna, which works with street children.

A mammoth government plan to ensure protection of the country’s children — identified repeatedly in surveys as the most vulnerable segment of our society — has repeatedly faced obstacles in taking off.

The plan, called the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, aims to help save children from forced beggary and other forms of exploitation shown in the film.

“It’s a great honour for India, but should be a moment of shame for our government,” said 17-year-old Shravan Kumar who lives in a slum in Delhi’s Kirti Nagar and works in a bottle-manufacturing unit.

Along with Faiyad, Shravan and dozens of other slum children were shown the film yesterday by Chetna and Badhte Kadam, another NGO that works with street children.

To 14-year-old Zakir Sheikh, who also makes bottles, the film’s single take-home message was hope. “I loved the film because it shows a boy like us becoming a big (successful) man.”

But not all are hopeful that the movie can by itself act as an agent of change in raising the government’s sensitivity towards the concerns of children in slums or on the streets.

If 16-year-old Vijay Kumar could ask for assistance from the government, he would want education. “Education would allow me to learn English, which in turn would help me get a job in a call centre, like Jamal.”