The Blue Umbrella

The Blue Umbrella is an instant classic. It is simple, heart warming and metaphorical at the same time. It is based on a novella by celebrated author Ruskin Bond. Bond's story captures the mood and the uncomplicated lifestyle of a small hill town spot-on and Vishal Bharadwaj renders it on the screen flawlessly.

A little girl (Shreya Sharma) trades her lucky charm for an umbrella with a Japanese tourist. The beauty of the umbrella takes over the whole of the town. Everybody falls for it but none more than the stingy shopkeeper Khatri (Pankaj Kapoor). He wants to have it by hook or crook. What Khatri finds and looses in his quest for the umbrella is the rest of the story.

This film is a reminder of the fact that Pankaj Kapoor never got the recognition he deserves. He is one of the finest actors this country has ever produced. He single-handedly turns 'The Blue Umbrella' from an ordinary film into extra ordinary achievement. The nuances he brings to his role - a twitch of his face, a gait to his walk, everything - works to etch the character in the minds of the viewer. A splendid performance is all I can say in short.

The little Shreya is endearing. We are as heart broken as she is when she looses her umbrella; and we rejoice with her when she dances with it.

The biggest credit of all, however, goes to Vishal Bharadwaj. It takes courage and commitment to make the kind of films he has made so far. A gem of a film !

I must say after seeing omkara(vishals earlier movie), i knew that he had skill in the field of direction, but blue umbrella is a milestone in his career personifying his art. based on the Ruskin bond novel, this movie is a work of art, all packed with children singing "tesu" songs, depicting the rural India. The story although seems timid, but bhardwaj shows how small problems go big in the rural world. I would Have to go so far to say that the Indian audiences may not be as ready for the movie as bhardwaj thought they were.hence declaring it a flop for the masses. but in the true art sense it is a work of guts. and to top it all we receive a mind numbling performance by theatre actor Pankaj Kapur. who literally plays with your mind throughout the film. On an over all basis this movie marks the change of Indian cinema, or you can say the return of the parallel cinema once started by men like satyajit ray...

Superb Performances, panoramic cinematography, excellent storytelling and made with the heart. Like all other Vishal movies this one also has all the above qualities, but this movie has one thing which takes it ahead form all his earlier flicks and that is the way it treats humans and their emotions. Vishal turns the very simple story to the story of humanity and simplicity remains as it is.

How an Blue Umbrella becomes center of two lives and how the two dealt with this. These two characters are Binya and Nand Kishore, played by introducing child artist Shreya and heavily experienced Pankaj Kapur. Pankaj Kapur lived the character of Nand Kishore in the movie. This was surely the best performance by him. His dialog delivery , accent , body language all was so real.

I think Blue Umbrella is not only meant for children but for everyone who want to see great movies. Vishal has created the movies which are truly across boundaries and across ages.

surely a 10/10.

Cinema is a very powerful medium.Like any other powerful media it needs to be harnessed well or the results can be go awry. For all the power it has, it is not after all so easy to captivate the audience, strike a cord and forever etch it in the viewers memory. Vishal Bharadwaj's Blue Umbrella does just that and in my opinion does a bit more!

It takes a simple village tale woven by Ruskin Bond and makes it to an amazing movie. Cinematography is amazing and the first scene is proof enough. Pankaj Kapoor gives another performance worth remembering. Bhardwaj knows close-ups with such powerful actors work well and we see lot of closeups in the movie. It goes without saying Kapoor's expressions during close-ups are just brilliant and something to look out for. The filmmaker also gets the best of the child actors and the screenplay, the gait all seem add to the rhythm of the cinema. And more than all these it is a movie about humans, their desires, their failings and emotions.

All in all wonderful cinema!!! Please do watch it!!

I would just like to comment on the plot synopsis written by Michelle Sohn. I disagree with the comment 'The film blends the extremely colorful and gaudy images with Bollywood-style song and dance!' Where does Michelle Sohn find 'GAUDINESS' in the movie? As an avid watcher of Hindi movies, I really do not approve of such words in a fine example of cinema! I had the misfortune of watching stupid and senseless movies like transformers, Premonition, The wedding singer etc. and i believe they are much more 'gaudy' than this movie. I request IMDb to please employ people who know how to write a good plot synopsis without restoring to jingoism. A final word to Michelle Sohn- I think Indian movies far outshine American movies so please don't write reviews if you are not really interested in our movies!!!!!!!!