Slumdog Child Star's Slum Home Demolished

The hits keep coming for the young cast of Slumdog Millionaire. And in this case, the hit came courtesy of an unexpected bulldozer.

The Mumbai slum home of 10-year-old actor Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, who played the youngest version of Salim in the Oscar-winning film, was demolished early this morning without warning as part of the city's premonsoon razing of more than 30 illegal dwellings.

Police gave Ismail's family just moments to leave the shelter in the Bandra East slum, with an officer reportedly hitting the sleeping child with a bamboo stick to wake him and order him out of his family's squatter residence, comprised of plastic sheets placed over bamboo sticks.

"We are homeless, we have nowhere to go," the boy said following the demolition.

City officials have since said that they were not aware that Ismail's home was among those demolished, but said that only temporary or illegal shanties were among those bulldozed down. Unfortunately, the family had no legal claim to their plot of land.

"Our house has been broken down by officials," the boy's mother, Shamim Ismail, told BBC News.

"We have not been given any alternate accommodation. Earlier the authorities had said they would give us a house. But I don't think that will happen anymore."

Ismail's family has lived in the slum for more than 15 years.