{"id":804,"date":"2016-06-29T13:13:05","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T13:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=804"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:54:10","slug":"oscars-2017-lion-jimmy-kimmel-sunny-pawar-mumbai-india-slumdog-millionaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=804","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Slumdog Fireflies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>he 89th Academy Awards are done. The red carpet has been rolled back and kept in the storeroom until it is time to exhume it next February. Hollywood\u2019s biggest actors and filmmakers, who had gathered under one roof for a night of toasts, upsets, grandstanding, and utter confusion, have gone back home in their limos. And after a magnificent night, an eight-year-old who stole the show (and subsequent headline) will likely go back to reality in Kalina.\n\nIt will last for a while though. <\/p>Sunny Pawar<\/a>, the tiny star of the Oscar-nominated Lion<\/em>, will bask in the afterglow of the film and his Oscar appearance for a short period before it begins to wear off.\n\nPawar came to Hollywood\u2019s biggest night dressed in the\u00a0most adorable tux and a smile that possessed the power to melt hearts (even Donald Trump\u2019s if he had one). He claimed the night with his unbridled innocence and refreshing honesty. Pawar, who had never faced the camera before his debut in the film, essayed the younger version of Saroo Brierley<\/a>, a young Indian boy who gets separated from his family at the age of five and is later adopted by a couple in Australia.\n\nPawar, who hails from Kalina, a low-to-middle-income Mumbai suburb, came to know about the film when a casting team visited his government school one day. Beating over 2,000 kids from all over the country in the auditions, he made it to the final three. As luck would have it, one boy dropped out and paved the way for Sunny Pawar being chosen for the role, thus beginning his life-changing experience to star in a big-ticket Hollywood release, despite not knowing English.\n\nAfter the release of Lion<\/em>, the newcomer was instantly catapulted into public consciousness due to his powerful performance. Suddenly, Hollywood couldn\u2019t get enough of him. He was making appearances at every talk show, breaking the internet for his signature \u201cthumbs-up\u201d gesture, and being toasted for his lovable bromance with co-star Dev Patel.\n\nThis was it. The boy from Kalina had now become Hollywood\u2019s breakout star.\n

The press was quick to make headlines out of their incredible journey while Hollywood continued praising their abundant talent and strength.<\/blockquote>\nAt the Oscars, Sunny\u2019s new-found stardom seemed to have reached its climax. He reprised with his characteristic charm, the role of Simba<\/a> in Lion King<\/em> with host Jimmy Kimmel. Selfie requests poured in throughout the night from Hollywood\u2019s wide-eyed A-listers. Sunny Pawar had the night of his life at the biggest stage in the world.\n\nThe question is, would this be the highest he\u2019d soar?\n\nIn a way, his rags-to-riches story is reminiscent of the journey of two other Mumbai slum kids<\/a>. Rubina Ali and Azaharuddin Mohammed Ismail were both handpicked from Bandra\u2019s Garib Nagar slum to star in Danny Boyle\u2019s blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire<\/em> over eight years ago. The film made stars out of Dev Patel (who is now Hollywood\u2019s go-to guy with an Indian accent and also plays the grown-up Saroo Brierly) and Frieda Pinto, but it was the two kids whose performances we really remembered.\n\nSlumdog Millionaire<\/em>, which went on to win eight Oscars, brought both the nine-year-olds Rubina and Azharuddin into the public eye. The press was quick to make headlines out of their incredible journey while Hollywood continued praising their abundant talent and strength. For the two former slum kids, life had changed for the better. They moved out of the slums that they were likely destined to inhabit for the rest of their lives, went to better schools, and now have significantly improved prospects.\n\n\"89th\n
\n

After a magnificent night, eight-year-old Sunny Pawar, who stole the show (and subsequent headline) will likely go back to reality in Kalina.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nBut these are kids that have peaked at a very young age. Shorn of the glamour that their brown skins once held for Hollywood, the two will hopefully go on to lead fulfilling lives \u2013 but the shadow of the insane fame that they once garnered possibly hangs over everything they do. Just the way Pawar\u2019s fame will govern every little thing he does from here on.\n\nIn the next few months, Pawar will likely be invited as the annual day chief guest of every local school. He will be called upon to guest-judge Dance India Dance<\/em> and make an appearance on Kapil Sharma\u2019s show. He will most probably\u00a0inaugurate a couple of corporate trusts and vocational\/sports training programmes for slum children like himself. After the lights go out though, he will likely have to remind everyone that he was once cute and famous. Ten years from now, his Tinder bio might read, \u201cI put the Lion in Lion King<\/em>\u201d or \u201cJimmy Kimmel was once my wingman.\u201d Twenty years from now, his mother might ask his prospective bride if she knows who Nicole Kidman is and show her pictures of the famous Hollywood actress and her son from a faded scrapbook.\n\nRubina and Azharuddin were hardly seen in any film after Slumdog Millionaire<\/em>. In India, after all, the two look like any other Indian teenagers. Today, they lead fairly nondescript lives, popping up on our newsfeeds in periodic listicles like \u201cThe Slumdog Kids: Five Years Later\u201d and \u201cHere\u2019s What Rubina Ali from Slumdog Now Looks Like\u201d. Once the arclights fade, Sunny Pawar might just be on the same path.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lion\u2019s Sunny Pawar had the night of his life at the Oscars, the biggest stage in the world. The question is, would this be the highest he\u2019d soar?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[19,1426,1427,80,1425,1428,1429],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-india","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-lion","tag-mumbai","tag-oscars","tag-slumdog-millionaire","tag-sunny-pawar"],"yoast_head":"\nIndia\u2019s Slumdog Fireflies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lion\u2019s Sunny Pawar had the night of his life at the Oscars, the biggest stage in the world. 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