Bum Bum Bole 2014

Film: Bumm Bumm Bole
Cast: Darsheel Safary, Ziyah Vastani, Atul Kulkarni, Rituparno Sengupta
Genre: Drama
Direction: Priyadarshan
Duration: 1 hour 55 minutes
Critic's Rating: 3 stars
Story: Darsheel Safary is sent to the cobbler to get his kid sister's sandals repaired. He ends up losing them and then begins the confusion as the brother and sister duo are forced to share a single pair of shoes to attend school. They can't tell their parents who are too poor to buy them a new pair. Pinu tries his best to make amends but shoes don't come easy for down and out kids growing up in the backwaters of terror-infested India....

Movie Review: Priyadarshan reveals his multi-faceted craft once again. Digressing from his usual dhamaal comedies, which haven't been quite so uproarious of late, he takes time out to make a desi version of the much felicitated Iranian film, Children of Heaven.

Does he manage to capture the warmth and poignancy of Majid Majidi's 1997 classic? Well, partially. For Bumm Bumm Bole is quite a watchable film, both for adults and kids, with an exquisite canvas where the tea gardens of Ooty double up as the ULFA-infested terrain of Assam. It creates a heartening picture of a destitute family that may be depleted of rations but does have an abundance of love. Dad Atul Kulkarni tries his best to keep the fires burning in his ramshackled home; mum Rituparno feeds her two kids with whatever she can lay her hands on; and the two kids -- Darsheel and little Ziyah -- spend most of their time with school, homework and housework, with almost no time to play, as Darsheel must assist dad and Ziyah must pitch in with mum. But nothing's amiss and no one's complaining, even as the terrorists are creating mayhem in the outside world, for the family knows it's going to be fine as long as they stick together.

Trouble begins when Darsheel loses his sister's only pair of shabby sandals and can't tell dad, because dad has no money to buy them a new pair. The young siblings try to resolve their problems themselves by sharing the only pair of scruffy shoes left between them: Darsheel's dirty sneakers which fill Ziyah with despair as she watches the fancy footwear of the other young girls in school. Darsheel even tries to buy a new pair for his sister by accepting a clandestine assignment which leads him into gun and bomb territory...but to no avail. Eventually, he sees a sliver of hope when his school announces a marathon which offers a pair of shoes as the third prize. Needless to say, the little boy doesn't want the first and second prize, despite their greater value. All he wants is a pair of shoes for his kid sister!

So far so good. The film is on song as long as it follows the kiddie track. The children deliver their roles perfectly and do not end up as precocious young things as is the case with most Indian films with child protagonists. But the terror track does seem totally unwarranted and ends up as a jarring note in what could have been a idyllic portrait of familial bonding. Nonetheless, Bumm Bumm Bole is fine vacation fare for the family and presents a viable alternative to parents who are looking for meaningful tween entertainment in a boom-boom age.