The Blue Umbrella Movie Review

The Blue Umbrella (Hindi)

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6.5/10
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8.0/10

The story unfurls with the discovery of a vibrant blue umbrella by Biniya, an eleven-year-old girl from an idyllic mountain village in north India. She has never seen anything more striking and beautiful. Neither has Nandkishore Khatri.

Nandkishore Khatri runs a small tea stall in the village. He is a miserly old man who has a fondness for pickles and swindling kids off their little possessions. Nandkishore is smitten helplessly by the beauty of the umbrella and goes to remarkable lengths to acquire the Blue Umbrella but fails miserably. He has given up all hope and declares that he will forsake it and move on.

However Nandkishore is not the only one to covet the umbrella. The umbrella's arrival disturbs the tranquility and harmony of the village. Biniya's secret weapon gives her an enviable power over the small town, as the umbrella assumes mythical status.

One fine day the umbrella goes missing! The villagers are sympathetic to her misery but are convinced that Biniya's carelessness has resulted in the loss. Alone and betrayed Biniya decides to take matters into her own hands.

What follows is a journey of Biniya and Nandkishore to a discovery, which is bitter sweet and wisdom far beyond the Blue Umbrella. 'The Blue Umbrella' is a metaphorical tale yet also contemporary. It questions the basic premise of mankind's quest for superiority over others. It also raises pertinent questions on the concept of material happiness and futility of the whole process.

The story unfurls with the discovery of a vibrant blue umbrella by Biniya, an eleven-year-old girl from an idyllic... Show More

Now the thing about Blue Umbrella is that it's an absolutely charming story, one that's got its heart in the right place, but because it unfolds at such a lazy, indulgent pace, you tend to get restless and shifty in your seat for the first half hour or so, until the real drama kicks in

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IBN

More than anything else, it's a fable on forgiveness personified in the child. There are some nice, humorous lines and a heavy use of the local dialect, specially by Kapur who is in top form

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Outlook

The story unfolds masterfully, at a languorous pace with the plot revelations serving to bring up issues of ostracism, loss, longing and loneliness, without ever becoming too heavy. The film, slow in the beginning, works magnificently on the whole.

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Rediff