Shekhar Kapur slams British tabloid for 'Slumdog...' sting

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has criticised the British tabloid that conducted a sting on "Slumdog Millionaire" child star Rubina Ali's father Rafiq Qureshi.

Kapur who directed a soft drinks advertisement with the nine-year-old and Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman recently in Udaipur in Rajasthan has slammed the media organisation for the report and suggested that the "British tabloid needs to be condemned for the sting operation".

"I just worked with Rubina, the little girl from 'Slumdog Millionaire' and what a joy she was to work with...I had been reading about what was going on with her father's alleged attempts to 'sell' her. I was aghast though at the sting operation done by that British tabloid, which instead of being condemned worldwide is being heralded as a great piece of journalism," Kapur posted on his blog Tuesday.

"...What was the tabloid trying to do? Trying to push a father to name a price for his daughter's adoption?...How dare they judge and manipulate other people and their moral predicaments from their comfortable colonial point of view. I would rather have them arrested for obscene suggestions and offers than the father for coming to the negotiating table," he added.

The online edition of the tabloid newsoftheworld.co.uk had reported that in a bid to escape slum life, Qureshi put Rubina up for adoption, demanding 200,000 pounds from the organisation's undercover reporters posing as a wealthy family from Dubai.

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