\nThe UK\u2019s Sun newspaper reported that Ismail, the father of Azharuddin Mohammed, who played the younger Salim (the brother of Dev Patel\u2019s character, Jamal) in the Best Picture-winning movie, lashed out physically at his son for approximately 30 seconds in front of a crowd.
\nThe father allegedly struck his son repeatedly when the boy, 8, grew tired after his long flight home from Los Angeles and chose to stop talking to a crowd that had gathered outside his home in the Dharavi slum in Bandra, Mumbai.
\n\u201cI do not want to speak today to any reporters,\u201d Azharuddin said, according to The Sun.
\nAs the father reportedly hit the boy with his hands and feet, the child\u2019s mother cried for her husband, 45, to stop, according to the paper.
\n\u201cAzharruddin\u2019s father was upset that he was asking to be left alone because he was tired,\u201d an onlooker told the British paper.
\n\u201cHe didn\u2019t attend school today so that he could recover from his long haul flight from LA and simply wanted all the attention to stop,\u201d the onlooker continued. \u201cHowever, when Azharuddin put his foot down and said that was it and there was to be no more talking, Ismail just flipped\u2026 It was like a scene out of \u2018Slumdog Millionaire.\u2019\u201d
\nPhotos of the boy following the alleged incident do not show any physical altercation between father and son. They do, however, show the young boy clutching his face. He also appears to be crying in the photos.
\nAccording to The Sun, Ismail apologized after the alleged incident.
\n\u201cI was very sorry that I did what I did,\u201d Ismail is quoted as having said. \u201cI was so confused and stressed by my son\u2019s homecoming that I did not know myself.\u201d A rep for Fox Searchlight, the studio which released \u201cSlumdog Millionaire\u201d and brought the movie\u2019s children over for the Oscars, was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"