Danny Boyle has come out in defence of the pay arrangements for the child actors in his hit film Slumdog Millionaire.

The feel-good film ignited controversy this week when the parents of some of the children featured in the movie told reporters they felt they had been exploited and underpaid.

Last week as the cast won a SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Anil Kapoor declared the award was ‘deserved by the children’ and it was being accepted on their behalf. Freida Pinto then took the microphone to name the incredible child actors by name, stating that it would make them really happy.

Boyle said: “We thought long and hard about how best can we benefit them and we decided to put in place an education plan for them.

"We put them in school, a very good school, which they're paid for to stay in until they're 18. If they stay in school until they're 18, a substantial sum of money is released to them then, which will effectively change their lives for the better.

"The children were paid well. The families were paid well for their work, over and above what you could pay."