Yeh Hai Chakkad Bakkad Bumbe Bo (2003):

Doesn’t that look like “The Famous Five”. Few cousins on a holiday, a tomboy, a dog, a mystery. That usually are the ingredients of any “Famous Five”  story, right. Well, it could or could not have been inspired by the famous “Famous Five”. But you get can’t help being reminded of it, like an Indianised version.

But that’s not to say that “Yeh Hai Chakkad Bakkad Bumbe Bo” is not itself enjoyable. A good movie for summer vacations or any other vacation. So to the movie.

Story:

Ganesh lives with his parents in a small village of Konkan- Vangaon. The village situated by sea is a predominantly Koli (fisher folks) town. His father had left his job as a teacher in a Government School in city to come back and start a school in his home town. He is called by everyone in the small place as Masterji (Ravindra Mankani).

Even though Masterji is trying single-handedly to impart education to the children of village, neither the kids nor their parents seem very interested in studies. Besides, the funds, which could enable the renovation of the old place and providing more facilities, are meagre.

In the beginning itself we see a fisherman giving a small bribe to pass his ward. Which of course Masterji rejects.

A help- or….:

How nice then if somebody is willing to donate some money to help Masterji towards his mission education. In return all the man wants is to rent Masterji’s ancestral (and dilapidated) home on Kali Pahadi of the village, which overlooks the sea.

This man is Don Douglas (Tom Alter), and he is introduced to Masterji by a local businessman Pandharinath.

Masterji of course couldn’t be happier. Though he finds Mr. Douglas’s choice to be odd and offers to find him a better place, he suspects nothing. But Don Douglas refuses, his heart he tells Masterji is set on their “Kali Pahadi wala makaan” (“house on the Kaali Pahadi”).

Masterji comes home and tells his wife Anu (Mona Ambegaonkar) about the foreigner and his offer. Anu is surprised and wonders what would someone want to with a fallen building like that.

Ganesh meanwhile is enjoying his holidays roaming around with Yashwanta, a Koli boy & his dog, Birbal. When he returns home Anu tells Ganesh that he has to go the bus stand in the evening to fetch his cousins Dilip & Ullhas. Ganesh is happy that Dilip is coming, but not so much about Ullhas arriving too. This is because Ganesh thinks that with a girl around, they won’t be able to be adventurous and have fun.

Over the ensuing days the cousins along with Yashwanta & Birbal play and have fun. They also find a monkey, hurt and bleeding, and take him along. He is named Badshah. That’s how they become Chhakkad instead of “famous five”.

The Competition:

In between this fun Anu also realises that Ganesh’s attitude and thoughts about girls need a change. She talks to her husband and he comes out with a plan to make Ganesh realise his fault.

This plan is a competition between the kids to see what different skills they possess and how well they do it. Like climbing a tree, making roti etc. The result you can guess, is obvious. Ullhas wins & Yashwanta is close second. Dilip is third. So who else is left. Ganesh gets upset over the results and this Masterji realises is the right time to drive home his point about the equality of girls and boys. Ganesh realises his mistake and everything is well.

Everything is well? Well, not exactly. We seem to have forgotten about Don Douglas. What is he up to renting that dilapidated, abandoned house atop a hill? And what sort of adventure do the kids get into.

The Movie:

It’s a pretty straightforward story. You can guess about Don Douglas’s motive right up from the start. You know Masterji should have smelt something fishy. But he probably couldn’t. It’s a Koli town, everything must smell fishy there.

That was a bad joke.

Ganesh’s attitude towards Ullhas and his realisation is also handled nicely. Though one’s bound to thinks it curious. Meaning as to how does this difference of boy and girl creep into kid’s minds even when these are not put in by the parents. At the same time while Ullhas is just a tomboy, she is not portrayed over the top kind.

Tom Alter as Don Douglas is quite wacky. Most other actors supporting the children’s cast are veterans too like Ravindra Mankani, Mona Ambegaonkar, Bakul Thakkar.

Though the movie or its plot are quite predictable, but it’s enjoyable nevertheless. And why not- Yeh Hai Chakkad Bakkad Bumbe Bo was scripted for the movie by noted writer Vijay Tendulkar. The script itself is based on the short story by Shakuntala Paranjape.

Yeh Hai Chakkad Bakkad Bambe Bo

DISCLAIMER: The screenshots, stills and videos from the movie are included here only for
the purpose of information, entertainment and propagation of children’s cinema. The
copyright over the film rests with the owners/ producers of the movie.