Lack of star power mars Darsheel-starrer 'Bumm Bumm Bole'

New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) Child actor Darsheel Safary, who earned kudos for his portrayal of a dyslexic child in Aamir Khan's "Taare Zameen Par", has failed to attract footfalls with his latest outing "Bumm Bumm Bole". Experts blame it on the lack of star power.

Produced by Percept Picture Company and directed by Priyadarshan, the movie also stars Atul Kulkarni, Rituparna Sengupta and newcomer child actor Ziyah Vastani.

"'Bumm Bumm Bole' is a very emotional movie. Darsheel has done a good role. The content is good and very well made but occupancy has been low - on an average around 25 percent for three days - due to lack of star power," Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas, told IANS.

"But the movie has potential to grow by word of mouth (publicity) in the coming days," he added.

Jayendra Banerji, vice president (operations) of Satyam Cineplexes, said: "'Bumm Bumm Bole' did not really do very well but the performance of both the child actors has been appreciated. Though it did not really pick up that well, the overall feedback is positive."

"Audiences coming out of the theatre after watching the movie are appreciating it and both the kids' acting," he added.

A remake of Majid Majidi's Iranian film "Children of Heaven", which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, "Bumm Bumm Bole" has been re-modelled as per Indian requirements.

The title "Bumm Bumm Bole" is based on one of the songs from Darsheel's debut movie "Taare Zameen Par".

Based in a terror-affected region, the story of the movie revolves around a poor boy who tries to win a pair of shoes as prize in an inter-school marathon for his sister, after he loses her pair in a shop.

Other movies released Friday along with "Bumm Bumm Bole" are "Admission Open", "Vroom", "Bal Hanuman 2", "Kushti" and "Do Dilon Ke Khel Mein" that, according to industry sources, have been washed out.

"Out of all the movies we played last Friday, only 'Badmaash Company' and 'Housefull' have given a decent result while for the other movies, occupancy has been less than 10 percent," said Deepak Taluja, senior vice president (business and operations) of Fun Cinemas.

"Considering Darsheel's movie, the audiences would not really like to spend a multiplex ticket price for him as of now. They would rather wait for the DVD to arrive and buy it at an equivalent price of the ticket," he added.

A source from PVR cinemas said: "None of the movies that released last Friday worked. The maximum occupancy on an average has been 10 percent. Darsheel has got set in an image from 'Taare Zameen Par', so he really couldn't impress audiences with his role in the film. Content wise too the movie was not up to the mark."

Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, also echoed similar sentiments.

"The weekend was cold. 'Bumm Bumm Bole', 'Vroom', 'Bal Hanuman 2', 'Admission Open' - nothing was up to the mark and expectations. The maximum occupancy on an average was 20-30 percent," said Raizada.

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