Priyadarshan commits, and for once admits to, the cardinal sin of adapting Majid Majidi’s “Children of Heaven”, an Iranian classic. He then tweaks it and squ-eezes out the subtlety. Not satisfied, he gives it a howler of a title.
So, what was a heartwarming tale ends up as a brand endorsement of sorts for a shoe company. The director also thrusts a terrorist track into the original story and extracts a lot of blood. Did someone say children’s movie?
“Bumm Bumm Bole” is about a lost pair of sandals and the desperate efforts of a brother and sister to get one. So Darsheel and Ziyah do a marathon everyday to and from school, which works in shift, so that they can take turns in using the only pair of shoes. The kids do a lovely job. Atul Kulkarni is brilliant as the poor father who fails to hang on to a job, while mother Rituparna Sengupta doesn’t get much scope in her daily roti-grind.
In the end, it’s Darsheel whom you take back home. The child is a master performer, though he seems to have had an appointment with the dentist midway. The title track catches him in braces.
Those who have seen the original might grimace. For the rest, it could give a glimpse of what could have been, minus the Priyan touch.
