EXCLUSIVE - Recognise these 'Slumdogs'? Children plucked from poverty to star in Hollywood movie have finished school and are ready to return to the screen... but were snubbed by William and Kate on royal visit

She was the real-life Slumdog, an eight-year-old girl plucked from a Mumbai shanty-town to star in a Hollywood blockbuster that won eight Oscars and grossed more than £250million worldwide.

So when Rubina Ali learned that the screen stars of Bollywood would be invited to a glittering gala to celebrate the India visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, she naturally assumed she would be invited. 

Instead, as the great and the good of Mumbai - including her Slumdog Millionaire co-star Anil Kapoor - arrived at the reception, she was at the humble apartment where she now lives with her aunt after a chaotic and distressing family breakup.

Sitting with Azharuddin Ismail, another child star of the movie who was snubbed by the royal visit, she told MailOnline: 'We were really excited to meet [Prince William]. We waited for the invitation to meet him but it never came.'

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Looking back: Rubina looks at the slum she lived in before moving into a flat when a fire engulfed her home. She was disappointed not to have been invited to meet William and Kate

Grown up: Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail (left and right) could not contain their excitement when they heard the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be meeting 'slumdog' children in Mumbai

Royal tour: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pictured at a glittering Bollywood gala on Sunday evening, which Rubina and Azharuddin - stars of the film Slumdog Millionaire were not invited to

Child stars: Rubina and Azharuddin were plucked from poverty in Mumbai's infamous slums to become stars of Slumdog Millionaire

Invited: Anil Kapoor, who plays the host on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in Slumdog Millionaire, attended the gala

The disappointed teenager, now 17, added: 'I am very proud and happy to see the young royal couple visiting India. I really admire the young couple and wish to meet them.  

'I would have joined the gala dinner party. It would have been my pleasure and honour to meet royals on their first trip to India.'

Azharuddin, also 17, Rubina's co-star, added: 'My neighbours and school friends started asking me about meeting [the duke and duchess] and I became excited to meet young royal couple, but they came in my home city and left without meeting us.

'If they didn’t have time to meet us separately it would have been good to at least see us for few seconds in the reception and dinner hosted for them in Mumbai, but sadly nobody contacted us.'

The two children were living in Bandra’s Garib Nagar slum when they were scouted along with four others to appear in Danny Boyle's 2008 movie, which became a global sensation and catapulted its child stars into the Hollywood spotlight.

They could be forgiven, then, for expecting an invitation to the star-studded reception at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel on Sunday evening.

More than 200 of India's film, sport and business figures attended, including Slumdog star Anil Kapoor, who plays the host on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the film. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were guests of honour.

New British High Commissioner Sir Dominic Asquith invited Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, India's answer to Angelina Jolie Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan, actor and campaigner Farhan Akhtar and cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Hours before the gala, William and Kate also met with children from one of Mumbai's slums. While the trust that manages the 'Slumdog' fortune so it can benefit the young stars appreciated the great effort the royals had made, it expressed disappointment that it had not been included.  

Nirja Mattoo of director Danny Boyle's Jai Ho Trust, which ensures Rubina and Azharuddin are provided for financially, said: 'They feel they have a connection with the British audience as their film, which won global accolades, was directed by Danny Boyle and produced by Christian (Colson) both from the UK so obviously they feel disappointed.

'We as a trust also feel disappointed for not being invited as there were my friends from the social sector like Childline, Magic bus and there is development work done by Jai Ho trust started by Danny and Christian with four other trustees regularly supporting the kids and their families.'

Disappointed: Rubina (left) and Azharuddin (right) thought they would be asked to meet the Duke of Duchess of Cambridge, but their invites never arrived

Missed out: 'We were really excited to meet [Prince William]. We waited for the invitation to meet him but it never came,' Rubina said

Lucky: Azharuddin moved into a flat paid for by a trust fund set up by the Slumdog filmakers with his mother Shameem (pictured together)

Chosen: Rubina - who came from a broken home - was chosen from more than 300 children to play Latika when she was eight years old

Future: Azharuddin, who hopes to become an actor, said he wants to join a dance class and start bodybuilding so he can look like a 'hero'

Rubina and Azharuddin are two of six children whose lives changed overnight when they were cast in the film to play the younger versions of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) and the girl he loved Latika (Freida Pinto).

More than seven years after the film's release date, both Azharuddin and Rubina have escaped the slums and finished their studies.

But Rubina has faced far more challenges than simply being born into poverty, as the family battles that started when she was just a child are still raging. Just this week she moved out of her stepfather's home because of 'difficulties'.

She was a beautiful, bright-eyed eight-year-old when she was selected from more than 300 children to play young Latika.

She already came from a broken home - when she was just three years old her mother Khushi abandoned her, her younger brother and father, leaving the family home with just her elder sister Sana.

Her father Rafiq Qureshi was left to raise the children with the help of her grandmother Jamila Bi.

Rafiq is said to have begun secretly dating a married woman who had four children, and this woman later became Rubina's stepmother.

Then, after her brush with stardom, Rubina returned to living below the breadline in her Mumbai slum until a fire ripped through it in 2011.

In 2009, a spectacular cat fight between Rubina's mother and stepmother was caught on camera. They were seen tearing at each other's hair and slapping each other cross the face and she watched. 

The fight was said to be over her custody after reports her father was arrested over claims he tried to sell her for £200,000 - an allegation he denies.

Royals: William and Kate visited a museum in Old Birla House yesterday, where Mahatma Gandhi, India's founding father, spent the last few years of his life

India tour: The Duke and Duchess – like other visitors to the Gandhi museum in Old Birla House – followed Gandhi's final footsteps from his humble bedroom to the spot in the garden where he was killed

Rubina lost everything - including photographs of her time in the limelight, newspaper clippings and memorabilia.

The child star and her family were relocated to a £50,000 flat in the desirable Bandra area of Mumbai, which was paid for by the fund set up by Slumdog director Boyle.

The filmmakers then set up a trust fund for the children who appeared in the film, and each will be given a lump sum when they are 18.

Properties will also be released to their parents when the children turn 19 and have completed their education. 

Yet life was still not smooth for Rubina, who did not get on with her grandmother.

'Right from early on I never got along well with her and she knew that we didn’t like each other,' she said. 

'When it almost became unbearable for me to deal with her, I decided to move out from the flat given to me by the trust and went to stay with my biological mother in Nallasopara outside Mumbai.' 

Visit: The Duke and Duchess pictured during a visit to Mumbai's slums on Monday afternoon. Sporty Kate played football and cricket despite her towering wedge heels

Cramped: William and Kate made their way through a series of narrow alleyways during Monday's visit to a slum in Mumbai

Glittering gala: All eyes were on the Duke and Duchess as the world's media assembled to capture them on camera at Sunday night's gala. Rubina and Azharuddin wished they could have been there

In 2009, Rubina then made history by becoming the youngest person to 'write' an autobiography. In her 192-page book, Slumgirl Dreaming: Journey to the Stars, actually penned by journalist Divya Dugar, Rubina gave an insight into her rise from the slums of Mumbai to Hollywood fame and back again.

Now she has finished her school exams and is studying computing, but last week she moved out of her home as she had difficulties living with her stepfather. 

She lives in the Nallasopara area, around 40 miles from Mumbai city, and is like any other teenage girl - interested in fashion and hoping to one day become famous again.

'I want to be an actress and would like Danny Boyle to direct my first movie,' she said. 'Working in Slumdog Millionaire was a great opportunity and I have aspirations to fulfill my dreams of becoming a star and meeting Kate one day. 

'Yes there are challenges and struggle but I am determined to work hard and pursue my goal.'  

Like Rubina, Azharuddin is waiting for his school results and aspires to be an actor like Indian’s Bollywood star Salman Khan after he has finished his studies.

Azharuddin's father tragically died of tuberculosis in 2009, and a few months later he moved into a new £25,000 flat paid for by Boyle's Jai Ho Trust with his mother Shameem.

Both Rubina and Azharuddin meet with Boyle once a year to discuss their lives and aspirations. 

Apart from meeting their tuition fees, the director's trust pays them a monthly allowance of £95.

Azharuddin told MailOnline he wants to join a dance class and also start bodybuilding so he can look like a 'hero'.

Trust fund: Rubina and her family were relocated to a flat in the desirable Bandra area of Mumbai, which was paid for by a fund set up by Slumdog director Danny Boyle. Rubina and Boyle pictured together in 2009

Film stars: Rubina and Azharuddin pictured in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Oscars

Another child star, Ayush Khedekar, 16, who played a young Jamal in the film and comes from an upper-middle class background, told MailOnline: 'I definitely want to be an actor and nothing else.

'My brother who is very passionate about football and idolises (Cristiano) Ronaldo but I have no other interest than acting.'

Ayush said Tom Cruise is his hero and he hopes to work with Boyle once again. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit to to the country - their first royal tour as a couple for almost two years -  started with an enthusiastic welcome on their arrival at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel on Sunday.

They laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the 2008 Mumbai terrorists attacks before visiting a slum in the Malabar Hill area of Mumbai.

It is home to more than 10,000 people who live in 1,500 tiny two-storey huts crammed into narrow alleyways beside one of the wealthiest districts of the city. Their evening was spent at the glittery Bollywood charity gala dinner.  

Limelight: Rubina and Azharuddin, pictured here as children, missed out on the 'dream' of meeting the future King and Queen

Child actors: The young Slumdog Millionaire cast, including Azharuddin (front left) and Rubina (front middle), pictured in 2009

The royal couple arrived in New Delhi, the capital of India yesterday, first visiting the India Gate - the imposing 137ft high red sandstone structure in the heart of the bustling city which is the country's national war memorial.

There, William and Kate laid a wreath in memory of the nation's war dead. 

A Kensington Palace spokesman told MailOnline: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will meet people from all walks of life while in India.' 

The British High Commission and the Taj hotel did not return requests for comment.