Vishal Bhardwaj is
undoubtedly one of the better and more sensible
directors in Hindi Cinema today as each of his
films till date - Makhdee (2002), Maqbool
(2003), Omkara (2006) would testify.
Hence expectations are high for every film directed
by him. Blue Umbrella too is a good effort
but let's just say overall Bhardwaj has done better.
 Based
on a story by Ruskin Bond, the film has been described
by Vishal as 'a children's film for adults' but
therein lies its problem. The film is neither
totally a kiddies film nor is it entirely a film
for older people and is, in fact, an uneasy mix
of both. But then what is a children's film? In
India, this generally means a film with a child
protagonist but does that mean that there cannot
be children's films with an all adult cast or
stories with children that are aimed at adults?
In fact Blue Umbrella in terms of feel,
pace and storytelling style, is more of a film
for adults even if going according to convention
norms, the film has won the National Award for
Best Children's Film.
The film looks at a tea stall owner Nandkishore
(Pankaj Kapur) in a small little village in the
hills who has a thing for pickle and all things
beautiful. Young Biniya (Shreya Sharma) comes
across a beautiful blue Japanese umbrella that
Nandkishore wants at any cost. And not just him
other people too covet the umbrella as the who
village looks at Biniya and her umbrella with
envy. Then one day the umbrella is stolen. Binya
accuses Nandkishore of stealing it but the police
find nothing. A few days later, his own red Japanese
umbrella that he says he ordered specially from
Delhi, arrives...
It is heartening that this film, though made
in 2005, has finally got a theatrical release
as different and sensible cinema like this must
be supported. Definitely Omkara as well
as the success of small films like Khosla
ka Ghosla and Bheja
Fry has helped. With Blue Umbrella,
Vishal once again shows his strength in placing
the film in a particular milieu, his fine attention
to detail and above all impeccable sense of casting
the right face in the right role. Every actor
feels like he belongs.
 The
film, a fable, looking at the effects of greed
and desire, nicely questions the premise of mere
material gains and shows us the futility of it
all. Certain sequences are extremely well-worked
out as when Biniya poses with the foreign tourists
and Nandkishore watches jealously from a little
away and later on when he poses with the tourists
with his red umbrella, Biniya stands looking at
him exactly where he was earlier.However, the
point of view switch from Biniya, whose story
you think it is to Nandkishore is unconvincing
as it takes the film elsewhere. If this was being
done following the umbrella as it changes hands,
then the story really ends with the exposure of
the thief. In that sense the epilogue tracing
the humiliation and final repentance of Nandkishore,
though extremely well done, does not really fit
in well with the happenings of the early part
of the film and what's more goes on a little too
long. Speaking of the beginning, the establishing
of Biniya and the other characters in the village
is also too self-consciously cute. And the denouement
of the umbrella thief when the rain causes the
colour to run could have been done more excitingly
playing with the colours but is flat.
Looking at the performances, Pankaj Kapur is
the life and soul of the film. He shows us exactly
why he is one of our finest actors around. Just
see him in his roughish avataar trying to get
the umbrella out of Biniya or his look of envy
each time he sees Biniya with the umbrella. Catch
the ecstatic look on his face when he has his
taste of pickle following the delivery of his
umbrella or see the hurt on his face as he suffers
total humiliation. He is simply outstanding in
the film. Shreya Sharma is effortlessly natural
and spontaneous as Biniya and easily stands up
to Pankaj in their scenes together. The rest of
the cast too blend in effortlessly and are first
rate, be it the village schoolmaster, the champion
wrestler, the schoolmaster's wife or the children.
Technically, Sachin K Krishn's camerawork captures
the external locations of Himachal Pradesh beautifully
but betrays the low budget of the film as the
lack of lights in some interior sequences are
obvious. Certain shots like the POV of the umbrella
descending down appear downright gimmicky rather
than having that magical feel which one feels
was needed as the umbrella falls towards Biniya.
And the ever changing weather on location has
made keeping lighting continuity extremely difficult
for the cinematographer. In terms of editing,
the slow and languid pace of the film tells on
the film particularly in the stretched out epilogue.
And there are scenes where the editing could have
been tighter. The entire sequence with the Japanese
tourists who give Biniya the umbrella in exchange
for the bear claw is extremely weak and again
goes on and on.The music is adequate and situational,
the best composed and written number being Neeli
Aasmani Chatri.
All in all, a good effort by Bhardwaj with the
highs outweighing the lows and well worth a watch.
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