A Brilliant Blue Umbrella!
Who could have thought that an umbrella would turn out to be one of the most compelling characters seen on the Indian cinema screen in 2007? Who could have thought that a charming Blue Umbrella would gently cast its shadow over all the other movies of the year- that this ’small’ film, much delayed before its release, would stand inches tall above the best of Hindi films seen this year till now?
But then, when the filmmaker in question is a master craftsman called Vishal Bhardwaj, pretty much anything is possible. The music director turned filmmaker is a force to reckon with- one of the finest directors seen in a long time- churning out masterpieces with alarming versatility and consistency. This man simply does not cease to amaze, and The Blue Umbrella is yet another stunning film from him- and personally, my favourite Vishal Bhardwaj film so far.
Words do not suffice to describe the amazing beauty, simplicity and purity of this movie, based on the popular novella of the same name by Ruskin Bond. But Vishal Bhardwaj expectedly goes much, much beyond the source material and takes the story to an altogether different level. The umbrella comes to life in this charming fable, symbolizing so much- from love and beauty to desire and materialistic evil.
The Blue Umbrella is a charming story, but it is also a powerful film exploring multiple themes of greed, innocence, ostracism and loss. Stunningly shot by Sachin K Krishn in the locales of Himachal Pradesh, the film is also breathtaking lovely, and the umbrella in all its splendour, set in contrast against the mountain scenery- green in summer and stark white is winter- is a sight to behold.
The writing and dialogues are trademark Bhardwaj- witty, sharp and humorous, with even a cheeky reference to Quentin Tarantino playfully thrown in- Bhardwaj, of course, is a huge fan of the Pulp Fiction director. And the songs in the film hark back to the days of Lakdi ki Kaathi- as Vishal shows yet again how brilliant he is with children’s songs, with Gulzar’s joyful lyrics perfectly complimenting his tunes.
But what’s really incredible about the film is the sheer spirit of humanity that pervades and shines through the entire film. It is indeed ironical that the film that has been named the ‘best children’s film’ at the recently announced National awards is actually not a kiddie flick at all. But The Blue Umbrella can make you feel like being a child all over again- rather like Nand Kishore in the film, who despite all his vices, still retains the child in him.
Vishal Bhardwaj has an amazing knack for extracting great work from child actors, and debutant actress Shreya is yet another awesome find after Makdee’s Shweta Prasad. The role of Biniya does not demand histrionics, but Shreya shows remarkable resilience and maturity, playing Biniya confidently and holding her own even before the veteran actor alongside her in the film.
The actor I talk of is of course, Pankaj Kapur- a horribly underrated actor, and a favourite with Bhardwaj- who has been giving powerhouse performances one after the other of late- whether it be in Maqbool or the more recent Dharm. Pankaj Kapur plays Nand Kishore with such obvious delight, watching him in this film is pleasure beyond words. One of the most riveting and memorable characters he has played, this undoubtedly is the finest performance I have seen in the movies this year and in a long time.
In fact, Pankaj Kapur is so good in this film, he almost brought tears to my eyes. Watch it- because performances like these don’t come once too often. And because films like these do not happen every other Friday….unless you want to wait for Vishal Bhardwaj’s next film. I, for one, actually can’t wait.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Frankly, I was disappointed with the film, especially since it had stalwarts like Vishal and Mr. Kapur. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Or perhaps because I had read the story by Ruskin Bond. I believe the film slipped somewhere midway. i saw the film two years back at the film festival in goa so can’t vividly describe the poits where it slipped . Prhaps I am the odd one out
And I loved his Maqbool, makdee and Omkara.
The movie didn’t last for more than a week in theatres and I had to buy a vcd to see it over this weekend.
I wasn’t disappointed as I loved the movie. I agree that it’s not just a children’s movie at all. My favorite dialogue in the movie (not sure if it’s from the novella)- “Angrezi mein koi jhoot bolta hai bhala?!!”
What a rare, thoughtful rumination on the difference between selfishness and selflessness. Pankaj Kapoor acts so beautifully and subtly that even though he has a negative role, his plight made me cry. Shriya also was very natural in her role.
We watched Half Nelson before watching Blue Umbrella, so here are two movies in a row with girls who have far more wisdom than some adults they know. What I really liked was that in both movies, the children act morally, while the adults in question only speak about morality but their actions fail them.
I like quiet movies that build slowly to make their points. They make me feel like I have lived with the characters and know them personally, and I remember them for a long time.
The Hindi name for this movie is Chatri Chor, but it’s also “cheeni kum” (less sweet) and speaks to adults as much as it does to children.
I think it was supposed to release in Mangalore this week,but now i guess it’ll be lost thanks to RGV ki Aag :(
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