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Indian Express - Pune Newsline: October 09, 2004
The film reviews up the action on city roads with youngsters thronging garages to give their machines a mean makeover.
THESE sleek beauties have vroomed past star-struck youngsters, leaving behind a trail of yearning. Bollywood film, Dhoom's box office success is also being replicated on the road if the city orders for rubber burning mean machines a la Dhoom is any indication.
Not only has the relatively cheaper option of modifying bikes got a fillip, but orders for imported motorbikes too see a small yet significant increase.
R G Yande is happy that the success of the film has translated onto the road. At his garage in Shukrawar Peth, Yande has already modified eight motorbikes this past month, two of them like the ones in Dhoom. ''Earlier we would get about two orders in six months for bike modification. Since the movie, things have definitely moved. The craze for foreign-looking bikes has increased,'' he smiles.
The modification means a complete makeover of the vehicle, leaving only the chassis and engine intact. ''To change the look of the bike, in fibre glass, we design the front body panels, visor, put in aluminium handle bars, improve suspension, change tail lights, headlights and fit in bigger tyres,'' says Amit Gaud. The Bajaj Pulsar and the Honda CBZ seem to be preferred mobikes to make such modifications on at Gaud's Akurdi workshop. ''Since the release of the movie, I have been getting more inquiries for modification. It takes about a month for a complete makeover so I've only done two. Youngsters seem to like it for its macho looks and mostly they want fluorescent colours,'' he says.
The cost of modification to look like one of those Dhoom dream-on-wheels could run from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 40,000.
In Demand
- Bright colours like red, white, blue,fluorescent green and yellow
- Modifications like putting in bigger alloy tyres, an aluminium silencer and rear disc brakes
- Popular imported mobikes include Suzuki GSX-R600, CBR 400 and Honda 600 F 41.
''One cannot change the speed of the bike no matter what design because the engine remains the same,'' says Rakesh Joshi, who modifies and deals in imported motorbikes. His orders to modify bikes have gone up from two a month to six, while he has three orders for imported motorbikes.
As for the original Dhoom guys, Pune-based Dream Bikes who supplied the motorbikes - John Abraham's 1300 cc red and black Suzuki Hyabusa, Uday Chopra's 1200 cc yellow Bandit and the troupe's black and silver 600 cc Suzuki GSX-R600 - it's been an encouraging season. Says Harjeet Singh Makkar who runs Dream Bikes ''Orders are pouring in for imported bikes. I already have orders of eight to 10 bikes with me. What seems most popular is the Suzuki Hyabusa which John Abraham rides in the movie. '' For now at least, the Dhoom bikes are in top gear.
The Bikes Logistics for Yash Raj Films' movie DHOOM was handled by DREAM BIKES, whose contacts are given below:
DREAM BIKES (Pune, Maharashtra, India)
Mobile: +91 9890220555 / +91 9823020555
