Children living in India’s slums have little chance of going from rags to riches, unlike the star of hit film Slumdog Millionaire, according to Save the Children.

The charity is keen to highlight the difference between the real children in India’s slums and Jamal Malik, played by Dev Patel, who grows up as a “slumdog” in Mumbai but goes on to win Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Shireen Vakil Miller, Save the Children India’s head of policy, said that the chance to go to school would be the equivalent of hitting the jackpot for these children.

She said: “Mumbai is a city of dreams where people think the streets are paved with gold. But many families who migrate there become trapped by poverty.

”In slums across India families live, sleep and eat in tiny shacks, working 24/7 in the desperate hope that they will be able to scrape together enough money to eat that night.

”One in four children is born into poverty in the country. For them hitting the jackpot simply means being able to go to school and get an education so that they can fight their way out of it.”

More than 120 million children live in poverty across India, around twice the population of the UK.

Danny Boyle’s film shows them being forced into the sex trade, captured by criminals and mutilated so that they attract more money when sent out to beg.

Save the Children works with slum children in Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad by running education and training programmes and reuniting those who have been trafficked with their families.

Slumdog Millionaire will be released in India in both English and Hindi on January 23 - the day after it is tipped to secure Oscar nominations to add to its four Golden Globes.

By Charlotte McCathie