the blue umbrella

A quaint story by Ruskin Bond - I remember reading it in school in class 3 or 4. I even remember it was where I first learnt the word ravine. Funny how these tiny memories remain.

The film multiplies the magic of the story with Vishal Bharadwaj's genius. I love how he has used colour, and his music is brilliant (he composed his own). What is truly wonderful is how he manages to extract the ras* of a culture with a thousand years of history and portray it, so lifelike and along with all the eccentricities, on the screen.

Here's a trailer:


Do watch the movie if you get a chance.
It's also available on Netflix streaming.

*ras: hindi; pronounced as the first syllable in "rustic"; the closest english equivalent might be "essence", but the word definitely encapsulates something more that I'm not able to put my finger on. If you've got a better explanation, please do leave a comment.