From the slums of Garib Nagar in Bandra East to the red carpet of the Oscars—nine year-old Rubina’s journey has been an astonishing one, almost as astonishing as Jamal’s quiz show victory in Slumdog Millionaire. This is her story—of playing marbles in the gulees of Garib Nagar with her friends, reluctantly going to school and dreaming of acting in films, and then having it come true. But underneath this fairy tale lies a grimmer reality, the reality that faces countless number of slum children. Rubina brings alive the world of the chawls with its wastelands and shanty dwellings, the lives of the children who grow up in them, the story of her rickshaw puller father, and the rest of her family. She tells us about life on the film set, the aftermath of the Oscars (including the controversy over her father), and how it feels to have the media spotlight on her. What does it mean for a little girl to move from slum to star so quickly? What will the future hold for her?

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