SLUMDOG STAR: Rubina remembers meeting Nicole Kidman

STARRY DREAMS OF RUBINA ALI

Rubina Ali, child star of Slumdog Millionaire, recounts a day with Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman in her new book Slumdog Dreaming: My journey to the stars, published by Random House, India.

Nicole Kidman was seated on a sofa, her long golden hair falling down on her back, looking a bit lost. When I came in, she stood up and came over to me, incredibly beautiful in her long, white dress.
“Hello, I am so pleased to meet you. How are you?” “Fine, thank you.”

After a few months of studies at the Aseema School, I now knew how to say a few basic sentences in English. But it is always very hard for me to understand foreigners’ English as they speak very differently from my teachers.

Meeting Nicole Kidman up close, I realised that she looks like a beautiful doll. I have never met any woman as tall as her. I thought all the women from my slum would be so small in front of her. But her skin, lips and hands, they were all perfect. I thought if I touched her, she might get dirty.

Indian actor, Arjun Rampal was there, too. When I shook his hand, he praised me and complimented me a lot on my acting in Slumdog Millionaire – so much that I blushed!