Indian poverty is often portrayed abroad in a manner that upholds imperialist frameworks of Orientalist deviance, while simultaneously endorsing a White interventionist rhetoric. Third-world children constitute an especially vulnerable victim category. This study compares Indian and international news coverage of two child stars in the blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire who were living in a slum during production, taken to Hollywood for the Academy Awards, and then returned to the slum. Findings reveal that although Indian coverage focused on the two children's stardom at the cost of ignoring other slum children's contributions, Western coverage promoted an interventionist rhetoric that emphasized the spectacle of poverty.