Chatri Chor - The Blue Umbrella!

Now...what shall I write about this film, Chatri Chor? I am still 'overwhelmed', will be the right word, I feel. When I started watching the movie, I was feeling sleepy after 10 mts. Went inside and slept! Started watching again. And again, I felt sleepy. This has never happened to me before.

Then the real story started to unfold. The story is based on the story of Ruskin Bond - anyone know the name of the story? The location is Himachal Pradesh (very good photography) and a Japanese tourist gives a beautiful blue umbrella to a village girl in exchange for a lucky charm which has two claws of a bear. The umbrella is so beautiful that everyone in the village wants to have it. One man, Nandkishore Khatri (veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor), who runs a tea stall 'Khatri Chaai stall' becomes so obsessed with it, he lures the girl with money, balloons and what not. She refuses to part with the umbrella. After some days, the girl complains that somebody had stolen her umbrella and she accuses Nandkishore of stealing her umbrella. The police search his house and tea stall - actually throws out all his belongings outside, but finds nothing.

Suddenly, one day Nandkishore receives a parcel which contains an umbrella which looks just like the blue umbrella, but red in colour. The whole village was feeling bad about accusing an innocent man as a thief and so now respected him a lot. He was invited for inaugurating a wrestling competition also. Everyone was in a happy mood. A man was shown as dipping clothes in different colours and if needed, changing colours too. Suddenly, it rains heavily and Nandkishore's umbrella's colour started running down and the blue colour started showing out. He was ridiculed for stealing the umbrella and as per the rules of the village, was isolated from the village. And the story goes to show how life changes because of a small mistake and Vishal Bharadhwaj has directed this story very well. I just felt the songs were not relevant and out of focus in this movie and not very memorable also. The girl Biniya (Shreya) has acted very well. There is no word to describe Pankaj Kapoor's acting, simply superb - he uses the accent of the locals fluently.

A must see movie - for serious/good movie watchers. Will I sleep today?! It has affected me deeply. Thank you, Bharadhwaj. Simple story shown very well.