Rubina Ali

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Did you see the movie Slumdog Millionaire? Depending on your age, maybe not as it's a rated "R" film. But it did win the Oscar for Best Movie in 2008. One of the actresses in the movie was Rubina Ali, an 8-year-old girl born in the slums of India.

SLUMGIRL DREAMING tells Rubina's exciting story from the auditions for Slumdog Millionaire through the crazy time of the Oscars. Rubina shares her positive attitude and her amazement at the world around her. Rubina lives in a one-room shack built from whatever they could find- sheet metal, wooden planks, plastic, anything - in the Bandra East slums. Her house has no plumbing, no running water, and no bathroom. Nor does it belong to her family. It's on government land. They do have electricity, and a television is their only real extravagance. The streets outside are covered in litter and excrement. It's not a very safe or healthy place to live, but it's all she knows.

One day, a neighbor asked Rubina if she wanted to audition for a movie. Rubina loved television and wanted to be a star and could think of nothing better. Against 500 other Indian children, Rubina won the role of the young Latika. Though it was only a month of filming, it was all Rubina needed to know acting was what she wanted.

Through her role from Slumdog Millionaire, Rubina got to travel to other parts of India (she had never ventured very far from her slum until then) and even flew on a plane to attend the Oscars in Hollywood. Rubina became famous in her slum. But after her travels and staying in hotels that had bathrooms and - more importantly to Rubina, pools! - she had a hard time returning to her squalid living conditions.

Told in such an innocent voice, SLUMGIRL DREAMING was an amazing look at life in a land totally different from what is known in America. Even in our poor neighborhoods, life is never as bleak as it is for Rubina on a daily basis. Rubina and those around her live in conditions that one would think stopped existing in the Middle Ages. Reading Rubina's struggle to achieve her dreams at such an early age and under such circumstances is very inspiring and heartwarming.… (mehr)