The downfall of America's 'most hated mayor' as he sparks fresh outrage among despairing residents Just 18 months into office and Johnson is already seen as Chicago's worst mayor By JAMES REINL, SOCIAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 19:02, 23 November 2024 | Updated: 19:02, 23 November 2024 e-mail View comments Brandon Johnson struck an uplifting note in his inaugural speech as Chicago 's mayor in May 2023, saying a 'better day is ahead' for a city gripped by 'violence and despair.' Eighteen months later, and residents of the third-biggest US city are waiting on the Democrat to deliver, as his popularity collapses amid a series of political missteps . Just 14 percent of Chicagoans approve of the mayor, and 70 percent view him unfavorably, according to a recent survey by San-Francisco based Change Research. Critics say the dad-of-three has been too hostile to police while abandoning his teachers' union pals and the cash-strapped Chicagoans who voted him into office. Stephen Maynard Caliendo, a political science professor, says Johnson, 48, gets bad advice and makes too many 'rookie mistakes.' 'The honeymoon is well over. There has to be some wins coming,' Caliendo told CBS News. Johnson's office did not answer our request for comment. His supporters say it's hard to reverse Chicago's long-standing problems of poverty, crime , and racial tensions overnight when the city faces a $1 billion budget deficit crisis. Against this backdrop, DailyMail.com takes a look at what's gone wrong for Chicago's mayor... THE THIN BLUE LINE Mayor Brandon Johnson's approval rating is 56 points underwater after just 18 months on the job The mayor was not welcome at the funeral this month of slain Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martine Read More Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson tries to blame Richard Nixon for July 4 weekend of gun violence Voters in Chicago, like anywhere else, want to feel safe when they walk down the street. But Johnson fell into the progressive politician's trap of going softer on lawbreakers than the public can stomach. As America grappled with the police killing of George Floyd, Johnson, then Cook County Commissioner, joined others in calls to 'defund the police.' He backtracked on this during a mayoral election campaign that pitted him against centrist Democrat Paul Vallas, who vowed to hire more officers amid widespread public safety concerns. Even so, his mayorship has suffered by a lack of commitment to law and order. The number of aggravated assaults in Chicago jumped 4 percent to 14,029 between 2023 and 2024, according to the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA). The numbers of homicides, rapes, and robberies fell slightly, but remains alarmingly high. In his draft budget for the hard up city, Johnson last month proposed swingeing cuts to police training and reform efforts. Maggie Hickey, an independent monitor of the Chicago Police Department, said it 'risks undoing' progress in the force. Johnson's lack of support among street cops was plain to see this week. He planned to attend his funeral of Officer Enrique Martinez, who was killed during a traffic stop on the South Side. But the officer's family and the police union raised objections. Johnson eventually backtracked, saying he was 'honoring' the family's request to stay away. When it comes to cops, crime and public safety, Johnson just can't get it right. THE UNION'S MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE Johnson was supposed to be the mayor who could handle contract negotiations with a powerful teaching union Instead, a public school system for some 323,000 students has been thrown into chaos Read More America's 'most hated mayor' is blasted by fuming residents over radical new policy The Chicago Teachers Union bankrolled Johnson's mayoral campaign - pouring cash into the candidacy of one of its ex-organizers and former social studies teacher. As mayor, Johnson was expected to repay the largesse when teachers contracts were re-negotiated in 2024. But cash-strapped Chicago can't afford to meet educators' demand for a 9 percent annual pay bump. Johnson tied himself in knots trying to keep the union happy while balancing the books. His plan to fill a looming deficit in the schools budget with a $300m short-term, high-interest loan was rejected by the public school district's CEO, Pedro Martinez. When Johnson tried to get school board members to oust Martinez, they refused and resigned instead. Last month, the mayor hastily appointed new board members, but the damage was already done. The public spat threw a system for some 323,000 students into chaos, and Johnson had alienated many of his former backers. WINDY CITY WELCOME Mayor Johnson visits a police headquarters that was housing asylum-seekers and migrant new arrivals in May 2023 Johnson was in August ranked as America's 'worst sanctuary mayor' by the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a watchdog Read More School board is set to RESIGN after hated city mayor 'forced' bosses to remove public schools CEO Chicago is not the only liberal US city struggling to cope with the influx of immigrants and asylum seekers across the southern border. But Johnson has struggled especially hard to accommodate the tens of thousands of newcomers who arrived looking for work and schools and without a roof over their heads. When his administration turned public schools into shelters and doled out apartments to foreigners, residents in the mostly-black affected neighborhoods vented their ire on social media. In one viral clip, an African-American woman slammed the mayor's support for asylum seekers, with shelters and $9,000 payouts, saying it was at the expense of the blacks who helped elect him. 'I don't understand how they can give these immigrants thousands of dollars in the state of Illinois, but look what they're doing to our own f******g people,' said the Chicago woman. She described seeing 'Latinos' arriving in her neighborhood in a '12-foot box truck,' using government welfare checks to 'buy up everything' and effectively price black residents out. 'The fact they are here, and our government is giving more to them than to the people who were born here, is really starting to p**s us off,' she added. 'Mayor Brandon, we are coming for your a**.' Johnson was in August ranked as America's 'worst sanctuary mayor' by the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a watchdog. The group said he'd lavished hundreds of millions of dollars on immigrants while his own voters languished in poverty. DEARTH OF TAXES Downing a pint at a Chicago boozer will get more expensive under Mayor Johnson's tax hike plans Johnson has failed miserably at what 17th Century French statesmen Jean-Baptiste Colbert called the 'art of taxation.' For Colbert, it involved 'so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing.' Yet the hissing after Johnson's hikes on property and liquor taxes has been hard to ignore. When he proposed $300 million rise in property taxes in the 2025 budget, City Council members had a rare moment of unanimity. They voted 50-0 against the proposal. The mayor's revised plan, a $150 million hike, is only slightly less unpopular. Chicagoans already pay among the highest property taxes in the country. Poor and minority groups have long said the taxes make homeownership a pipe dream. One Chicago resident, a woman known only as Mrs Lawrence, slammed the mayor at a recent city meeting. 'We paid for these properties for a purpose and not for you to go touchin' it with $300 million that you want to siphon out of the citizens' pockets,' she said. Seemingly not content with taxing Chicagoans into homelessness, the mayor also took aim at their Friday nights. He seeks to raise taxes in liquor in bars and restaurants to 35 percent, the first such bump since 2008. Hospitality groups are fighting against the plan, saying it will upend their industry. THE TRUMP SLUMP Donald Trump made gains with voters across Illinois in this month's election, but did not win the state Johnson's predecessor Lori Lightfoot didn't leave office with a smile on her face The writing has been on the wall for Johnson for some time. Voices calling for his recall are growing louder. This month's presidential election was another wake-up call about the changing face of blue US cities. President-elect Donald Trump's vote share rose from 15.8 percent across Cook County, which includes Chicago, in 2020, to 21.4 percent this year. MAGA Chicagoans blasted Johnson's tax hikes at a heated city council meeting this month in a sign of the city's shifting political sands. Among the most vocal critics was Tyjuan Sims, who confronted Johnson directly, accusing him of neglecting Chicagoans while helping undocumented immigrants. 'The feds need to address you! The DOJ needs to address you! And hopefully Donald Trump will address you,' Sims yelled in the chamber. 'You're gonna protect the undocumented, while you're gonna allow for the citizens in Chicago to suffer under your, what? Three percent?' Johnson has been on the back foot for weeks. Reporters quizzed him about his doomed taxation plans and dismal approval ratings this week. He said it was 'too early' to grade his performance, and talked up recent gains — investment flows to Chicago and a falling homicide rate. Johnson is having a hard time, but he can perhaps take some solace in the fact that he's not the only unpopular mayor Chicagoans have complained about. His predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, was so unpopular that she failed to make the mayoral run-off vote in 2023. Before her, Rahm Emanuel dropped his 2019 reelection bid amid controversies over rising crime, school closures and an infamous police shooting. Share or comment on this article: The downfall of America's 'most hated mayor' as he sparks fresh outrage among despairing residents e-mail Add comment
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Manmohan Singh's father may have believed his bookworm son would one day lead India, but the understated technocrat with the trademark blue turban, who died Thursday at the age of 92, never dreamed it would actually happen. Singh was pitchforked into leading the world's largest democracy in 2004 by the shock decision of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to turn down the role after leading the party to an upset win over the ruling Hindu nationalists. He oversaw an economic boom in Asia's fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint. Known as "Mr Clean", Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public. As finance minister in the early 1990s, he was hailed at home and abroad for initiating big-bang reforms that opened India's inward-looking economy to the world. Known as a loyalist to the Gandhi political dynasty, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation and never held elected office before becoming PM. But he deftly managed the rough and tumble of Indian politics -- even though many said Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, was the power behind the throne. Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh moved to the holy Sikh city of Amritsar as a teenager around the time the subcontinent was split at the end of British rule into mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. His father was a dry-fruit seller in Amritsar, and he had nine brothers and sisters. He was so determined to get an education he would study at night under streetlights because it was too noisy at home, his brother Surjit Singh told AFP in 2004. "Our father always used to say Manmohan will be the prime minister of India since he stuck out among the 10 children," said Singh. "He always had his nose in a book." Singh won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his PhD. He worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations. Singh was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history -- currency reserves had sunk so low the country was on the brink of defaulting on foreign loans. Singh unleashed sweeping change that broke sharply with India's Soviet-style state-directed economy. In his first term he steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending the country the international clout it had long sought. He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the US that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs. But by 2008 there was growing disquiet among the ruling alliance's left-leaning parties about the pact, while high inflation -- notably food and fuel prices -- hit India's poor hard. Still, voters remained drawn to his calm, pragmatic persona, and in 2009 Congress steered its alliance to a second term. Singh vowed to step up financial reforms to drive economic growth, but he came under increasing fire from critics who said he had done nothing to stop a string of corruption scandals on his watch. Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won. But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, won a landslide. More recently, an unflattering book by a former aide titled "The Accidental Prime Minister" portrayed him as timid and controlled by Sonia Gandhi. Singh -- who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors -- became a vocal critic of Modi's economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India's democracy. pmc-grk/abh/fox/leg/smsAP News Summary at 3:19 p.m. EST
With the election finally over, and America getting ready to celebrate its fall holiday tradition of families not speaking to each other, it’s good to remember that there is one thing that unites us all. In every region of the country, people of every age, race, color, creed, religion and national origin share one common thought: How can California still be counting ballots? For decades, registered California voters would go to the polls in their neighborhood on Election Day, give their name and address to a poll worker sitting at a folding table, sign a paper registry, receive a ballot and vote. Completed ballots were secured in locked boxes and when the polls closed, the ballot boxes would be transported to county offices to be tabulated. County election officials didn’t need weeks to verify the validity of every ballot, because voters had already attested to their identity at the polling places. Vote-by-mail ballots had to be verified, but for a long time that was only a small fraction of total ballots. According to records from the California Secretary of State, mail ballots accounted for just 4.21% of all ballots cast in 1964 general election, 4.5% in 1976, 6.26% in 1980 and 9.33% in 1984. Later, the percentage of mail ballots began to climb. By 2016, more than 57% of ballots were vote-by-mail, and then in 2020, when California began sending a mail ballot to every active registered voter, 86.72% of ballots cast were mail ballots. In 2022, it was 88.64%. California lawmakers fretted that tens of thousands of mail ballots were rejected because they were returned too late, or because the voter had not signed the return envelope, or because the signature did not match the voter registration record on file. So they passed laws that allowed extra time and extra chances for voters to get it right. Counties are now required to accept ballots for seven days after the polls close, even without a postmark, as long as the voter “has dated the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope or the envelope otherwise indicates that the ballot was executed on or before Election Day.” This and other lenient standards for accepting mail ballots can be found in the California Code of Regulations, Section 20991. In the current election, the counties accepted ballots through Nov. 12. But that’s not the end of the delays. Under state law, counties must notify voters if their ballot hasn’t been accepted due to a missing or mismatched signature and inform them that they can “cure” their signature by signing a form. This year, California enacted another law, Assembly Bill 3184, to ensure that voters are given the maximum amount of time to respond to the notice. Voters have until Dec. 1 to return the signed form. This week, several close races remained undecided with hundreds of thousands of ballots statewide still to count. This does not inspire confidence, especially since many changes to voting and election procedures that California has made in recent years have opened apparent vulnerabilities to cheating. In addition to mailing ballots to voters who did not request them and continuing to accept ballots for seven days after the polls close, the state legalized ballot “harvesting,” which enables an individual to return stacks or sacks of ballots to an unattended drop box or county elections office without triggering legal scrutiny. Before Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1921 in 2016, only a close relative or member of the same household could return a voter’s mail ballot. Then this year, Newsom signed Senate Bill 1174 to prohibit local governments from adopting a voter ID law. Last year he signed AB 969, making it illegal for counties to hand-count ballots in an election. Voters in California were promised paper ballots that could be audited, but it hasn’t worked out that way. Manual verification of machine-tabulated vote totals has become virtually impossible in the wake of the 2016 Voter’s Choice Act, SB 450, which threw out the local polling place model and allowed voters to cast their ballot in person at any “vote center” in the county. Returned ballots are no longer sorted by precinct. The state’s method of confirming the accuracy of a machine tally was always a manual tally of 1% of the precincts where in-person voting occurred, randomly chosen. That was changed in 2018 to substitute “batches” of ballots for precincts. But how can the public know if those numbers really match? What about recounts? Anyone who is willing to pay the cost may request a recount of any race, but retrieving the paper ballots requires paying county workers for weeks of work to find them. An alternative is to recount optical scans of ballots, but that is costly, too, due to the need for tech workers, computers and monitors. With the previous voting systems, recounts could be conducted by four clerks at a table, and the cost was in the tens of thousands of dollars. But in 2019, then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla decertified all those voting systems everywhere in the state and forced the counties to buy voting technology that counted optical scans. Now recounts cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the state’s actions seem like an engraved invitation to fraud. A 2010 law, SB 1404, required the secretary of state to regulate the tint and watermark on printed ballots. Ahead of every election, an advisory goes up on the state’s website to announce the exact ink color, watermark and printing instructions for official ballots. “The tint for the background and watermark is Pantone 372 U ‘Light Green’ (RGB 212, 238, 141/ CMYK 11, 0, 41, 7),” this year’s advisory explained. Do other states publish instructions for manufacturing official ballots? When so many security vulnerabilities are layered on top of each other, it appears to be possible to steal an election and get away with it. California officials claim they’ve made it easier to vote. It looks like they’ve made it easier to cheat. Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley10 Fashion Deals From Nordstrom’s Half Yearly Sale That You Don’t Want to Miss
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TEHRAN – China's Ambassador to Iran, Cong Peiwu, has reaffirmed Beijing's steadfast commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with Tehran, highlighting the robust nature of their strategic partnership in a recent interview with Tasnim News Agency. "No matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will unswervingly develop its friendly cooperation with Iran," the ambassador said, underlining China's resolute stance on the bilateral relationship. Referring to the economic ties between the two nations, Cong highlighted China’s status as Iran's premier trading partner. “Iran continues to serve as a vital oil supplier to China while successfully expanding its market presence through specialized products, including citrus fruits, pistachios, carpets, and handicrafts,” the ambassador added. Cong highlighted the shared heritage of Iran and China along the ancient Silk Road, noting that their bilateral relationship has transformed into a comprehensive strategic partnership with various dimensions. "Despite international pressures and changing global dynamics, China has maintained its commitment to developing strong ties with Iran," Ambassador Cong emphasized, positioning the relationship as fundamental to both nations' strategic interests and regional stability. The ambassador noted that a major milestone in bilateral cooperation was reached in July with the launch of the first "Qom-Yiwu" freight train journey, showcasing the practical execution of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Iran's relationship with China reached new heights with the signing of a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement in March 2021, establishing a comprehensive framework for collaboration across political, economic, cultural, and defense sectors. This agreement, initially proposed during President Xi Jinping's 2016 Tehran visit, is believed to demonstrate both nations' determination to withstand external pressures. Ambassador Cong also emphasized Iran's strategic importance both historically and in the contemporary context of the BRI. He noted Iran's consistent participation in the China International Import Expo, describing it as "an important platform for Iranian products to integrate into the Chinese market and enter the global market." Elsewhere in his remarks, Ambassador Cong emphasized that the diplomatic relationship between the two nations has gained additional momentum through Iran's recent integration into major intragovernmental frameworks. Iran's full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was formalized during its 23rd virtual summit in July 2023, followed by its inclusion in BRICS alongside several other nations in early 2024. The expanded BRICS alliance now represents approximately 40% of the global population and a quarter of the world's GDP, marking a significant shift in international economic and political dynamics.Missouri stuns top-ranked Kansas in 76-67 upsetCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Tamar Bates had 29 points and five steals to help Missouri beat Hunter Dickinson and No. 1 Kansas 76-67 on Sunday. Mark Mitchell scored 17 points in Missouri’s first win over Kansas since a 74-71 victory on Feb. 4, 2012. Anthony Robinson II had 11 points and five steals for the Tigers (8-1), and Josh Gray grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds. Dickinson had 19 points and 14 rebounds, but he also committed seven turnovers. The Jayhawks (7-2) have lost two straight on the road after falling 76-63 against Creighton on Wednesday night. Missouri opened a 57-33 lead with 14:15 remaining on a jump shot from Tony Perkins. But the Jayhawks outscored the Tigers 30-8 over the next 11:55. Bates scored 18 to help Missouri to a 39-25 lead at the break. The Tigers then opened the second half with a 16-6 run. NO. 2 AUBURN 98, RICHMOND 54 AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford each scored 15 points as No. 2 Auburn beats Richmond. Bouncing back nicely after a loss at Duke , Auburn (8-1) had six players score in double figures. Chad Baker-Mazara had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Denver Jones made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Johni Broome had 11 points, six assists and two blocks for the Tigers. Jahki Howard scored a career-high 13 points. Richmond (4-5) was led by Mikkel Tyne’s 16 points. Dusan Neskovic scored 12, and DeLonnie Hunt added 10 points. NO. 8 PURDUE 83, MARYLAND 78 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Braden Smith had 24 points and 10 assists, and No. 8 Purdue held off Maryland for a win. Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 21 points for the Boilermakers (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten), who bounced back after a loss to Penn State on Thursday. Camden Heide added 15 points and Fletcher Loyer finished with 12. Derik Queen led the Terrapins (8-2, 1-1) with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 18 points and Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice each had 13. Julian Reese fouled out with five points and seven rebounds. Purdue used an 8-0 run to take a 77-67 lead with 2:00 left. Smith sparked the run with a 3-pointer. Heide made three late foul shots to help close it out. The Terrapins led 36-31 at halftime. Both teams made 13 of 35 shots in the first half, but the Terrapins had three more 3-pointers NO. 14 CINCINNATI 84, HOWARD 67 CINCINNATI (AP) — Simas Lukosius scored 18 points, Aziz Bandaogo added 17 and Dillon Mitchell 14 to lead No. 14 Cincinnati to a victory over Howard. Cincinnati (7-1) led by four points after one half and came out firing in the second, hitting three straight baskets to extend its lead to 10 points. The Bearcats outscored Howard Bison (3-6) 48-35 in the second half to seal the win and rebound from Tuesday’s eight-point loss to Villanova. Blake Harper had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus Dockery added 14 points for Howard. NO. 22 TEXAS A&M 72, TEXAS TECH 67 FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Wade Taylor IV scored 19 points, Zhuric Phelps hit a go-ahead 3-pointer during an 11-0 run and finished with 12 points, and 22nd-ranked Texas A&M beat Texas Tech in the first meeting of the former conference rivals since 2012. Phelps’ 3 with 7 1/2 minutes left made it 54-52 and put the Aggies (8-2) ahead to stay. His step-back jumper after hard contact with Tech’s Kevin Overton capped the game-turning spurt. Jace Carter scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half as Texas A&M won its fourth straight game. Chance McMillian had 23 points with five 3s for Tech (7-2). Overton scored 14 of his 17 points before halftime, when he hit four 3s.
In Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai’s Anuja , resilience in the face of hardship is the central heartbeat. The short film, doubling as both a heartwarming tribute to sisterhood and as a social awareness campaign about the effects of unchecked child labor, focuses on Anuja (Sajda Pathan), a young girl who lives with her older sister, Palak (Ananya Shanbhag), in Delhi, India as they live in poverty working long hours at a garment factory. One day, when a social worker (Gulshan Walia) arrives at the factory to expose the overseer for working Anuja illegally, he proposes that the youngster take part in an exam that will get her into a boarding school to better her chances of escaping her station. The two sisters are then tasked to raise money for the participation fee while Anuja decides the fate of her future. Fresh off of Academy Award voting precursor wins for best live-action short at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles and the grand prize winner at the New York International Short Film Festival, the short film has also garnered support from Indian filmmakers Mindy Kaling and Guneet Monga Kapoor . Below, Graves talks to Deadline about his inspirations, working with young actors and raising awareness about the plights of child labor. DEADLINE : You have a varied background, from your PhD in philosophy to your various studies within South Asian culture and language. You also are a teacher. I’m curious how your expertise helped shape you as a filmmaker and come up with the origins of Anuja. ADAM J. GRAVES: I did my undergraduate degree in South Asian studies and wrote a master’s thesis on Abhinavagupta, the 12th-century Kashmir Shaivism philosopher who wrote in the domain of Indian Hindu philosophy known as Tantra. But it’s not [the same as the] new age Tantrism today. His work had very little to do with that. I spent about five or six years of my life going back and forth between India and I studied at Banaras Hindu University. I was always fascinated with Indian culture and literature, especially philosophy. And so, I knew that I wanted to film in India. It’s such a visually beautiful place. The energy and the culture are so rich. My wife is of South Asian descent. She played a large role in shaping this project and inspiring it, quite frankly. Her family’s history is rather complicated. Her ancestors go back to a place called Gorakhpur in northern India. They were brought by the British to Guyana as indentured laborers after the British abolished slavery. They turned to indentured servitude, and because of that family history, we’ve always been interested and concerned with labor issues. So that was the origins of the project, just bringing these two things together, wanting to shoot in India, and also having a concern with labor issues. And we were coming out of the pandemic, and everybody was talking about supply chains. But they were talking about the consumer end of supply chains. And we’re like, “Well, what’s happening on the other end? Not just here, but what’s going on where in terms of the production?” We came across a statistic that one in 10 kids, globally, is engaged in child labor, which was shocking to us because that seemed like an incredibly high number, 160 million kids. And we thought, “Well, how many films, really, can we think of off the top of our head that deal with those kids or with kids living in that context?” And we couldn’t think of that many. So, we thought this would be an interesting way to anchor the story. Let me just say that I feel that it’s an incredible privilege to be able to make film. And if you can, if you have the opportunity, then why not use the lens as a window that you can provide people into another world and provide people an experience that will allow them to empathize with people who don’t maybe have it as well off as some of us. Principally, I feel a film has to be a work of art that speaks to some of the universal aspects of human existence. DEADLINE : While your short film does examine the life of child labor, it also has levity and this balance between resilience and joy amongst the struggle. Anuja has her sister and even strangers who care about her future and safety. Why was it important to add this layer to the film? GRAVES: Two things happened. One, while we were doing research for the film and we were meeting with the children who were either working or formally working, it was just so evident to us, early on, that we had to pay tribute to the joy that these kids were able to find in really difficult circumstances. The kind of energy, creativity, and resilience was palpable when we met with these kids, so we wanted to make sure that we built that into the film and become part of the story. It wasn’t just a doom and gloom story about kids who had it tough, but it was also a story that highlights the resilience and the spirit of these children. Secondly, we wanted to make sure the film was something these kids would enjoy. I mean, they kind of became the audience for us as we were kind of crafting this story. We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just going to be a film. We knew that we were going to share it with them. And we want it to be a gift to them in some way, something that they would watch and enjoy. And that meant it had to be more than just a dark, dramatic portrait of life in a factory. DEADLINE : You worked with Salaam Baalak Trust, which is also where you ended up finding the lead actress. What was the collaboration process like? GRAVES: It developed organically while we were researching. We were working with a number of nonprofits actually in and around Delhi. And the Salaam Baalak Trust’s mission seemed to resonate with what we were trying to do with the film. I think that has to do with the fact that it’s a nonprofit founded by the director Mira Nair’s family. Mira Nair is a towering figure in global cinema. She’s of Indian origin, but she’s lived in Uganda, New York, and everywhere else. So, I don’t want to say she’s an Indian filmmaker because she’s a person of the world. But she made a movie, Salaam Bombay! , about street children in Bombay, in what is now Mumbai. And after her mother saw the film, she was inspired to start a nonprofit. So, with the help of Mira, they established this organization that provides a home and educational opportunities for street children. Maybe I’m speculating, but I think because a film inspired this nonprofit, that organization recognized that art, especially performing arts, can be a really important vehicle for cultivating a kid’s sense of self-worth and confidence. So, they have a really robust theater program within this orphanage. So, when we were developing the film, they understood right away what we were trying to do. On the other hand, some of the other organizations thought we were trying to make a documentary about them. And because they have a theater program, they had a lot of kids who they wanted to submit. We felt early on that, “OK, we have to try. We know it’s going to be difficult, but we have to try to cast directly from the community.” Then the Salaam Baalak Trust was an organization that was open. Their kids were excited to be featured in a film. So, when we were casting, we looked at self-tapes from all over India, especially a lot from Mumbai and the film industry, kids who already had a film background. But we also received a lot from the Salaam Baalak Trust and from a couple of other nonprofits. They’re also located in the Paharganj, one of two neighborhoods that are up against each other in Old Delhi. I knew I wanted to film there, and one of the factories we filmed was just north of there. The movie theater we wanted to film in was north of there as well. They helped us with everything from locations to research. Ideally, we want to use the film as a tool to raise awareness about child labor, but also, hopefully, gets money for the Salaam Baalak Trust. They do great work. DEADLINE : Talk about casting Sajda Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag as sisters. They are so great onscreen. GRAVES: We were so lucky, Sajda. She lives at the Salaam Baalak Trust. But just not long before she was in the film, less than a year before, she was living on the streets with her older sister. She acted before she was cast in Anuja , so I can’t take credit for having discovered her or anything, but her own life experience parallels in really interesting ways that of the character of the film. And that’s pure accident. We didn’t write the script for her. But she was living without parental support on the streets and had an older sister. So, I think partly because she has an older sister, she could connect with Ananya. Ananya has a younger sibling, so when they met, they just immediately clicked. We didn’t do much in the way of rehearsals because, in my very limited experience working with child actors, sometimes the more you rehearse, the less life there is in the performance. And I think that can be true for children actors or adult actors. So, what we did is we tried to get them together. We all stayed in a hotel together, like a motel/hotel down in Paharganj and in close quarters. Sajda was staying with a social worker, and Ananya had her father along on set. We spent every moment of the day together for about three days before we started shooting. We played games, we had ice cream, and we had fun. They enjoyed each other’s company, and just very quickly became super tight. And you could see that. DEADLINE : Mindy Kaling and Guneet Monga Kapoor joined as producers on Anuja . That must have been very affirming. What do you think people are resonating with? GRAVES: These are two of my favorite people in the world, not just because they’re on board. We’ve specifically pursued them because [of what] we saw in them, their own causes, and the kinds of work they do. So, Guneet, for example, The Lunchbox is one of my favorite all-time films, an early feature film she’d worked on. And, of course, The Elephant Whisperers ... she consistently makes incredible work. It meant a lot to us to have such a towering figure within Indian cinema endorse the film and come on board and get behind it. Mindy herself has done so much for raising awareness of and foregrounding stories of women and girls. She’s also a towering figure, not just in the entertainment arts industry world but also among the Indian diaspora community. And so having her vouch for the film and having it resonate with her so much is really important. I think the thing that’s incredibly satisfying for every filmmaker who finds an audience is the sense that it somehow captures something universal, so you don’t have to come from this background to somehow be inspired by it or recognize yourself in it. We were trying to capture something about the universal features of childhood, and I think that’s one of the things that Mindy saw there, and that’s really heartwarming for us to have her on board. So, we’re super flattered, honored, and excited to see where it goes from here. DEADLINE : You’re in the conversation for the Oscars. What’s going through your mind, and what would you like people to consider? GRAVES: The two leads of the film, Sajda and Ananya, are the heart and soul of this project. I think anybody who watches films knows. Our cinematographer, Akash Raje, is incredible. I’m proud of all aspects of the film. But the heart and soul are these two incredibly gifted young actresses who gave us everything they got. And I’m just so proud of the fact that their performances are finally getting an audience, and they’re being seen. And my dream—and this is the thing that I try not to fantasize too much about—is to bring Sajda to the Oscars. I’ll tell you a silly story. When I was flying over for production, I was in LAX. I wanted to bring something for Sajda, a gift for the two actresses. But I was sick right before the trip, so I didn’t have much chance to shop. So, when I got to the airport, I wanted to bring them something from America that would be more interesting to them instead of picking something up at the Indian airport. I went into the gift shop and found a hat and sweater for Ananya, but they didn’t have anything in Sajda’s size because she’s so small. So, I found this Oscar replica statue. Of course, she had no idea what it was at the time when I gave it to her, so we had to explain it to her. But before we shot the film, I have a photo of her with this plastic Oscar, and the fact that we are now in this position talking about the real Oscar is really surreal. [This interview has been edited for length and clarity]Ruben Amorim hints Marcus Rashford is not doing enough after being dropped again for Manchester United
