OSCAR-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire is giving a local charity a boost. Volunteers from Royston-based Khandel-light, which provides health care for poverty-stricken people in India, will be making collections at two screenings of the film, which won ei

OSCAR-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire is giving a local charity a boost.

Volunteers from Royston-based Khandel-light, which provides health care for poverty-stricken people in India, will be making collections at two screenings of the film, which won eight academy awards, at Saffron Screen in Saffron Walden on Sunday, March 22.

Royston GP Dr Peter Gough, who founded Khandel-light nine years ago, will tell audiences how the fund has been aiding villagers in India's Rajasthan region by providing water wells, houses, health care and work in 20 villages around Khandel.

He said: "The overwhelming feeling when you watch Slumdog is the incredible problem of the slums and poverty, and the millions who are trapped in them.

"That is exactly the feeling I got when I first went to India.

"I believe people watching Slumdog Millionaire will get the same feeling and desire to do something about it.

"When I saw the problem, I also saw a solution to it.

"The problem is created by migration of millions of people from the rural villages into the big cities.

"The solution is to try to make life better for people in the villages so that they stay in the villages.

"By providing a life - good housing, crops, water, jobs - and a future in the villages, we have stopped their migration, and helped to stem the flow of people into the slums."

Dr Gough, who is a GP at Royston's Market Hill surgery, and at Barley surgery, has visited the area several times with his family.

His son James, a junior hospital doctor, raised �600 for the charity when he ran the Mumbai marathon on January 18.