After delivering fine cinematic embellishements with Maqbool, Omkara and Maqdee, directer Vishal Bharadwaj is back with Blue Umbrella, based on a novella by Ruskin Bond.

Blue Umbrella is a simple story of a girl Biniya (Shreya Sharma) discovering the enchanting blue umbrella and getting spell-bound with its beauty. The movie has another character called Nandkishore (Pankaj Kapur), a lazy old man and owner of a small tea stall in the village. Nandkishore is fond of pickles and also exhibit great skills in conning children off their possessions.

As the story unfolds itself, the blue umbrella becomes the centre of attraction for all the villagers and this doesn’t come without the desire to wrest the umbrella from Biniya. Nandkishore is one among them and tries all his conning skills to get the umbrella from the girl but with no success.

The movie which proceed rather slowly faces a turning point when all of a sudden the umbrella disappears. The villagers are sympathetic towards the girl’s loss but also blames her carelessness for the loss of the umbrella. From here onwards, Biniya and Nandkishore embark on a journey into the discovery of truth and wisdom, coming above the micro-issue of the missing umbrella to the larger social realization.

Pankaj Kapur is brilliant as ever in playing the miserly character of Nandkishore, where Shreya Sharma playing the role of Biniya equally compliments his performance.

With Blue Umbrella being a metophorical tale showcasing man’s basic desire to gain superiority over the other and raising questions on the idea of material happiness and the absolute meaniglessness of it, Vishal superb direction grips you in a spell which breaks only with a smile and feeling of great contentment.

Blue Umbrella has a touching sensibilty in it which not only incaptivates the children but also has the potential to impart a lesson among the adults.