the blue umbrella - Notepad

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

An old grocery shop owner, Nandkishore Khatri (Pankaj Kapoor) is enchanted by a little girl's blue umbrella. He loves collecting things that catch his fancy and the girl doesn't want to part with her umbrella. How they deal with the situation is what the movie is all about.

What Worked

• The picturization of the titles.
• Camera work in these specific cases -
  • point of view shot of the umbrella swaying in the air makes you curious about what the girl is enchanted by
  • point of view shot of the snake makes you feel anxious as to what is approaching the girl from such a low angle
  • complex camera movement to show Pankaj Kapoor looking for something in his belongings - makes you really wonder what he is looking for - its almost as if the camera movements are choreographed to match his movements.
• In the sad song, Biniya's sadness is appropriately told to the audience by the lyrics and is symbolized using a waterfall in the background.
• Nandkishore Khatri's face is hidden by balloons when he gets his umbrella. In a way giving relief to the audience that Biniya is at least saved the grief of seeing him have something she has lost.

What did not

• The scene in which Biniya is running away from Khatri (towards the end of the movie). The repeat action cuts didn't quite work for me.

Nitty-Gritty

• Why is Biniya (Shreya Sharma) roaming around the village alone at night?
• Why does Khatri need help closing an umbrella that he has closed earlier?