The Sky is Pink movie review: Priyanka Chopra-Farhan Akhtar film explores fragility of life, inevitability of death
I didn't plan to blog about The Sky is Pink movie review when I set out to watch the Priyanka Chopra starrer, which is based on the true story of a little girl called Aisha (starring Zaira Wasim). But when I cried throughout the movie and felt that my heart was breaking into bits, I knew that I had to write about it.
Aisha is born with a rare congenital disorder, paving the way for a very complicated web of family dynamics, particularly the emotional upheavals that it takes her parents whom she cutely calls as - Panda (Farhan Akhtar) and Moose (Priyanka Chopra).
For those wondering what the story is all about, contemplate on this uncomfortable question: "What would you do if you had a choice - to abort your child to spare it from suffering for an entire lifetime - or to give birth to a child knowing very well that an entire lifetime of suffering awaits?" More significantly, are you ready to go through the same tragedy twice?
While many reviews of the film criticize how the parents keep debating over whether they should have aborted Aisha keep coming up, I have a different take on it. You cannot, as human beings, not look back at your life's most significant decisions and say, "I did the best thing I could" when you feel differently about it within you.
From the inner turbulence, several questions probe you inside out.
You are forced to confront the consequences of your own decisions by examining your own responses to the questions that spring up from within.
In life, you always have challenging make-or-break choices that you need to navigate through as a couple or as a family. Every couple or family goes through this cycle, without exception. It's a package deal of sorts.
That choice you make blurs the line between what can make and break a family - at the time, you do not know whether your decision involves the disintegration of the institution that you hold as most sacred - or whether it sustains what you regard as the most sacred extension of your identity, namely, the family.
Most times, the wisdom dawns later and by then, irreparable damage is caused in a couple's relationship with each other.
The Sky is Pink Story
A jarring start is how the film begins - where you have the voice over of a dead child telling you about the complexity of her parents' sex life, highlighting the lack of it, to convey a sense of incompleteness in the almost picture-perfect family landscape that they manage to show to the world.
A crack of light does not seep through a viewer's mind, only a feeling of surprise and curiosity as to why a powerful story should begin like this.
[READ: Dad's Advice to the Daughter he loves]
The biggest let down of the Sky is Pink story is the cinematic usage of the child's voice over, forcing us to confront a young girl's remarkable courage in a way that could have been far more powerful and impactful. Recall in Farhan Akhtar-Priyanka starrer Dil Dhadkne Do, you have a dog's voiceover, which is still fine when the narrative is fun, light hearted and wacky. But not in a story where the powerful rendition of a child's life hangs in balance.
The Sky is Pink Real Life Tragedy
To me, some of the best scenes in the film were those where Farhan Akhtar and Priyanka Chopra confront their 'shadows' and finds themselves unable to do something about what it's throwing up at them. That scene where a friend refers to her elderly mother-in-law's death in the same breath as young Aisha's - the emotional outburst that streaks through Priyanka Chopra as she confronts her husband on the unfair and insensitive comparison - those few moments were soul stirring!
We may not realise it.
When you lose someone you deeply and madly love, you don't want these random, meaningless words being thrown at you in desperation by clueless people even if they mean well.
You just want to be left alone to grieve.
You want to reach closure on your own terms.
READ | LOST SOMEONE YOU LOVED?
That is exactly where Priyanka Chopra nails it as a grieving mother, who is on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. In one of her rages, she reminds her husband that unlike him who can find some solace in being engrossed in his career, her whole life, every living moment, revolved around Aisha's recovery. This is where the stark reality and vulnerability of motherhood receives the fullest appraisal in terms of exploring lingering grief.
Coming back to the movie 'The Sky is Pink', a few humorous sequences also point out the typical social hypocrisies that plague the Indian male - which Farhan Akhtar portrays with his signature style of subtle brilliance - for instance, where there is DNA report stating that he is not Ishaan's father.
Another funny scene is about Panda wearing his cool purple shirt while meeting 'Sonia' whose name is deadly and cheekily referred to as a name that would make the Prime Minister of a country shake! The entire cinema hall burst into laughter!
The scene where Priyanka Chopra completely 'loses it' is a telling scene of how emotional trauma and mental health issues remain unaddressed even in seemingly educated, intelligent and highly competent Indian families.
Right from the start, the message is that the mother bears the entire burden of managing a little girl's illness in a way that is more competent than an entire team of doctors but she herself ignores the signs of mental stress that is bubbling up.
Suddenly, you get a glimpse of the typical Indian male revealing his real nature - of not being ready to have a one-on-one conversation with his wife and how it disturbs their equation altogether. But these fleeting glimpses are few.
The Sky is Pink is not your near-perfect family tear-jerker.
In fact, there are many dull moments through the movie's sequences, which adds to the reality of how mundane life's moments can be as compared to reel life.
Directed by Shonali Bose, 'The Sky is Pink' took me on a full throttle, roller-coaster ride of emotions. With tears streaming down my face, I sat and watched the film from start to finish. I was still crying when I walked out of the cinema hall. If you found this movie review interesting and you have already watched the film, do share your thoughts on this film.
I'd love to hear a different take on 'The Sky is Pink.'
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