OTTplay Lost and Found - The Blue Umbrella

Welcome to OTTplay Lost and Found, one podcast that talks about critically acclaimed films but lesser-known. Im your host Nikhil

Arriving three years after the brilliant horror-comedy Makdee, The Blue Umbrella (2015) was Vishal Bhardwaj’s sophomore children movie offering. As far as tone is concerned, the two movies could not have been more different. While Makdee was eerily discomfiting, The Blue Umbrella pulsates with a throbbing heart. Based on Ruskin Bond’s story of the same name, The Blue Umbrella is a children’s film set in an appropriately candy-colored cosmos. The vibrant and scenic Himachal Pradesh village Banikhet thus becomes the stage for the story to unfold. 

The film revolves around a nine-year-old Biniya, played by Shreya Sharma, who finds a blue Japanese umbrella and immediately becomes the apple of Banikhet's eye. Biniya has but one enemy, the old and cantankerous shopkeeper Khatr, played to absolute perfection by Pankaj Kapur. He tries bribing, threatening and scaring Biniya to acquire this umbrella. 

Biniya’s sleuth-like quest for the umbrella after it suddenly goes missing one day makes the otherwise languorous narrative taut. Indeed, the pace of the film is indulgent. But once you submit to Vishal Bhardwaj’s vision, it is difficult to tear away from the screen. Everything from the dreamy cinematography to the lilting soundscape work in tandem to make this film soar. The film also succeeds in not becoming a good versus bad morality tale, keeping the tone light and breezy. 

If you haven't been able to catch up with this flick, you can now do so streaming exclusively on Netflix.

That's the OTTplay Lost and Found film The Blue Umbrella for today's podcast. I shall be back with you soon with a brand new critically acclaimed film but a hidden gem. This is your host Nikhil signing out for now.

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