The Blue Umbrella

I watched two movies this month - “Chak De” and “The Blue Umbrella”. Of the former, I think enough publicity has been made and enough print(web) real(virtual)-estate devoted in the form of reviews, interviews, etc. Of the latter, I venture to write my thoughts.

At least by the time I went to see the movie, IMDB rated it a rare 9.4 (out of 70 votes). So I had high expectations and given that I walked out of the theater not disappointed, I should agree that the movie lived up to my expectations. I should also say that this review (if I can pass this piece as one) could have been different had I read Bond’s novel (on which the movie is based) before watching the movie.

The Movie: Firsts - The setting was fantastic and characterisation vivid. The lensman has captured the beauty of the Himalayas and stitched it into the story seamlessly. Somehow, I felt that the location complemented the characterisation. The story captures the dynamics of a small society of closely-knit people by following a thread of simple incidents predominantly revolving around an 11-year girl and a grumpy old man. What is so beautiful about it? The subtlety, of course. If you had read Conan Doyle, you’d appreciate how the author cleverly uses the character of Watson – a slightly slow-to-understand gentleman who, by asking pesky questions to (otherwise laconic) Holmes, makes the detective explain us his obscure schema. Out here, the author has used trivial incidents as a trigger to capture some complex human behaviors. You’ll observe that he has masterfully controlled the environment by choosing a small society and simple incidents and retained the focus on the depiction of human behavior in the context of the setting.

In all, I liked the movie very much, though I am not sure if I’d give it a 10. Only one mall in Noida runs the movie and runs that just once a day. Many of the audience in the theatre, for some reason seemed restless during the show. May be we need to train our people to accept a bit of reality on reels.