The producer of Slumdog Millionaire has defended the movie following accusations that child actors in the film were exploited.
Christian Colson told ITN that recent reports surrounding how much the youngsters were paid and their working conditions on set were inaccurate.
He said: "Immediately after we cast the kids, we put in place a plan of action for their future welfare, over and above the money we paid them; we did that in consultation with their parents.
"The essential plank of that was education; they never attended school. We enrolled them in school for the first time in their lives, a fund was established to pay for any costs associated with their education, and medical emergencies, other emergencies, basic living costs."
Meanwhile, director Danny Boyle has defended the film's title after protestors vowed to burn effigies of him because of its derogatory undertones. Some claim that the name is offensive to people who live in the slums of Mumbai, where the Oscar-nominated film is set.
Boyle said: "For us, slumdog was always a very affectionate term because for us it was a hybrid, a mixture of underdog and rooting for the underdog, and obviously he comes from the slums."
The film has so far won the Best Picture award at the Golden Globes, the Producer Of The Year gong from the Producers Guild Of America, and Best Ensemble Acting, the highest award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.l