'Slumdog' child star's home torn down

City authorities in Mumbai demolished the shanty home of a Slumdog Millionaire child star yesterday, forcing his family into the streets months after the Oscar-winning film shot him to global fame.

Azharuddin Ismail, nine, played the character of Salim as a child in the film, a rags-to-riches romance about a poor Indian boy competing for love and money on a television game show.

Ismail's tarpaulin-covered home in a teeming slum was one of several shanties, illegally built along a drain, that were demolished by local authorities in Mumbai, India's financial capital and entertainment hub.

"When they came I was sleeping, they shook me awake and one policeman even threatened me," Ismail, surrounded by half-broken suitcases filled with clothes and utensils, said.

"What can I do if they have demolished my house? I will sleep out in the open."

A poster of Slumdog Millionaire, signed by director Danny Boyle, fluttered from the only wall of Ismail's shanty still standing. Open sewers run nearby and it had no running water.