Wednesday, June 02, 2010
BBB
Bumm Bumm Bole
Majid Majidi’s Iranian film Children of Heaven (1997) is a masterpiece… a film so simple that it is as poetic as haiku, and its layers emerge slowly like fragrance. It talks of family relationships, love, sacrifice and grace. The film put Iranian cinema on the world map and won an Oscar nomination.
It wouldn’t take genius to remake the film as it is, and it would appeal to audiences anyway. But Priyadarshan had to go ahead and “Indianise” it—which means add songs, melodrama, a terrorism angle too violent for kids, and embarrassingly in-your-face product placements.
Priyadarshan sets his film Bumm Bumm Bole (awful title!) in the North-East, and shoots at picturesque locations, but that’s where the charm of the film ends. The story is about a little boy Pinu (Darsheel Safary) who loses his sister Rimzim’s (Ziyah Vastani) only pair of shoes. The father (Atul Kulkarni) is unemployed, the family is desperately poor—the kids can’t ask for a new pair, so they decide that the girl will wear the brother’s shoes in the morning, run back from school and give them to the boy. This daily exchange obviously causes a lot of stress in the kids’ lives—getting late for school, being the least of them.
There was absolutely need to borrow from Tahaan and add a sub-plot about terrorism and Pinu getting involved in his rich uncle’s schemes. There is rape attempt on the mother (Rituparna Sengupta), the father being arrested for murder, and Pinu’s trauma at school. A couple of things seem out of place—like the very poor family having a TV at home, and the well-fed appearance of the kids and braces on the boy’s teeth. In the end when the father gets a job, he is seen buying shoes at a branded store—where shoes would cost more than his monthly salary! One is not even complaining about the hybrid costumes and funny accents—that kind of meticulous authenticity is not expected from mainstream filmmakers.
Everything rests on the two kids and Ziyah Vastani is cute as a doll. Darsheel Safary wears the same sullen expression he did in Taare Zameen Par. But even together they are not an audience-magnet.
All the synthetic padding to increase the running time, adds nothing to the film, but subtracts from the lyrical beauty of the original. Bumm Bumm Bole is neither for adults nor for kids, neither commercial film, nor artistic. See Children of Heaven on DVD!
Majid Majidi’s Iranian film Children of Heaven (1997) is a masterpiece… a film so simple that it is as poetic as haiku, and its layers emerge slowly like fragrance. It talks of family relationships, love, sacrifice and grace. The film put Iranian cinema on the world map and won an Oscar nomination.
It wouldn’t take genius to remake the film as it is, and it would appeal to audiences anyway. But Priyadarshan had to go ahead and “Indianise” it—which means add songs, melodrama, a terrorism angle too violent for kids, and embarrassingly in-your-face product placements.
Priyadarshan sets his film Bumm Bumm Bole (awful title!) in the North-East, and shoots at picturesque locations, but that’s where the charm of the film ends. The story is about a little boy Pinu (Darsheel Safary) who loses his sister Rimzim’s (Ziyah Vastani) only pair of shoes. The father (Atul Kulkarni) is unemployed, the family is desperately poor—the kids can’t ask for a new pair, so they decide that the girl will wear the brother’s shoes in the morning, run back from school and give them to the boy. This daily exchange obviously causes a lot of stress in the kids’ lives—getting late for school, being the least of them.
There was absolutely need to borrow from Tahaan and add a sub-plot about terrorism and Pinu getting involved in his rich uncle’s schemes. There is rape attempt on the mother (Rituparna Sengupta), the father being arrested for murder, and Pinu’s trauma at school. A couple of things seem out of place—like the very poor family having a TV at home, and the well-fed appearance of the kids and braces on the boy’s teeth. In the end when the father gets a job, he is seen buying shoes at a branded store—where shoes would cost more than his monthly salary! One is not even complaining about the hybrid costumes and funny accents—that kind of meticulous authenticity is not expected from mainstream filmmakers.
Everything rests on the two kids and Ziyah Vastani is cute as a doll. Darsheel Safary wears the same sullen expression he did in Taare Zameen Par. But even together they are not an audience-magnet.
All the synthetic padding to increase the running time, adds nothing to the film, but subtracts from the lyrical beauty of the original. Bumm Bumm Bole is neither for adults nor for kids, neither commercial film, nor artistic. See Children of Heaven on DVD!
Labels: Cinemaah
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