Indian wedding

UTV Motion Pictures'
Blue Umbrella

Produced by: Ronie Screwvala
Directed by: Vishal Bhardwaj
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Starring: Pankaj Kapur and Shreya Sharma.

Festival Fodder
Since I have not read the original novella by Ruskin Bond, I would not know how faithfully Vishal Bhardwaj, in his fourth directorial outing, has stuck to the source of his adaptation. But let's be clear on one point - Blue Umbrella is strictly festival fodder.

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It is sad that if on the one hand, the multiplex culture has infused new life into offbeat cinema; it has also made 'returns' the only criterion for making a big-screen film. Less than 5-7 years ago this film would (as it should) have been rightly made for television. Filmmakers of this breed tend to over look what the audience (and I emphatically do not mean the frontbenchers or the interiors moviegoers alone) feel about shelling out several hundred rupees for a family outing to get such fare in return.

In the final analysis, sadly, Blue Umbrella suffers the same malaises as the Children's Film Society's celluloid stuff of yore. Despite its famed source, is not a patch on his beautiful, Enid Blyton-like debut Makdee, which was simply India's first true-blue children's film. A simple query, Mr Bhardwaj: Why be inconsiderate to the people who help you recover the investment in return for some value-for-money (not crass) entertainment?

For starters, Bhardwaj pays far greater attention to characterization than to a crisp narrative. Nandkishore (Pankaj Kapur), who runs the local tea-stall, may be a nuanced character but we need the English subtitles that have been provided to understand his lingo and accent. Yes, maybe that's how Hindi is spoken in the Himachal valleys, but what happens to those that cannot understand the English subtitles? A cinematic licence would certainly not have reduced but maybe even boosted the magnificent performance of the monumental actor Pankaj Kapur.

The subtitles, in addition, impart the look of a dubbed film. For a film meant primarily for kids, the cinematography is unnecessarily dark and gloomy, and we only have to compare the general gloom with the few awesome day shots to realize that Sachin K.Krishn (the cameraman) could have transformed the look of the film to a bright kiddies' work, but for the director's European cinema influences!

Briefly, the story is about a blue umbrella that the village kid Biniya (Shreya Sharma) dotes over (she has exchanged it with a tourist for her lucky charm) and is craved by several people in the village including the shrewd Nandkishore. It is stolen one day, and what happens after that is what the plotline is all about.

The story's point (hopefully one of forgiveness that only a pure soul of a child is capable of) does not come out clearly enough, because we are suddenly told that the angry village has done a volte-face on their punishment to the thief. The girl's innate angelic nature initiates the thief's reformation, but that too is not etched out clearly. Five more minutes spent on a convincing end would have made all the difference despite the flaws mentioned above.

Though technically upbeat with authentic sets, the film also suffers from a weak music score. The translations of the song (Gulzar) read well, but the actual Hindi words are difficult even for most adults. The acting department is uniformly good, Shreya being a bright discovery, and does partly compensate for the shortcomings. But honestly the film could have been far, far better than the cloudy fare we get.

KEY TO RATINGS:
Give away your ticket:
Watch it if you must:
Worth your while:
You'd be silly to miss it: