The Sky is Pink – Story of a Sunset

The sky is Pink – Movie Review

Spoiler Ahead….

Aisha (Zarina Wasim) while narrating her experience about going for scuba diving says that she can stay under the water for only two minutes and hey how short are those two minutes to witness the greatness of the underwater world. But the four of them still give it a shot and try to catch a sneak peek. This scene for me summaries what this family tries to do with their daughter who is fighting a medical condition called SCID (Severe Combined Immuno Deficiency). The eventual fate of Aisha is set upright at the beginning, which tells us that it is not a story about her. This is the story of a couple, Niren (Farhan Akhtar) and Aditi Chaudhary (Priyanka Chopra)’s love for each other and their kids as they go through turbulent times in their lives. What does this young couple who have already lost a daughter try to give their second daughter what they missed the last time and how they grow up with her forms the rest of the story?

Aisha is a cheerful girl who knows that she is going to die and has fought with death every day and finally embraces it. This nature of hers is beautifully depicted in the film. Initially, when these treatments and extra care seem to be choking her, later in the film she is shown to be not struggling but rather embracing each day and the pain as it comes. There are no over the top melodramatic scenes showing the pain of Aisha. Even when she breaks down, a joke from her brother is enough to make her smile. She does not make a fuss about the things that she is not able to do and just move on to the next page in her life. But, mind you, this is not a girl who is saint-like, she still goes to her parents crying when her crush does not accept her love. It’s this fine balance between both sides that is real about her. Zarina Wasim delivers a convincing performance. The writing takes us through her journey where she experiences – love, heartbreak, adventure, pampering, and pain. Therefore, we totally buy-in when in the end she says, she has lived how much ever she wanted. Maybe this is after all that her parents wanted to give her that they couldn’t give to Tanya (the first daughter). We also have Ishan (Rohit Suresh Saraf) who is the ignored brother, who is initially least interested in her home videos and afraid that his father is going to sell his toys. And, later he grows up to a guy who tries to cheer up his sister first and then cries after hanging up. Maybe he becomes this mature person because his parents decide not to lie to him and make him part of their journey of giving Aisha those two minutes of life that she deserves. The title for this movie comes from a scene between Ishan and Aditi, the mother. Ishan comes crying to her for being made fun of by his classmates for drawing the sky as pink. That is when the mother says, “Everyone has their own sky and I painted it however I wanted”. She could have aborted her kid not wanting to put her through pain but it’s her baby and she is ready to do anything for her however she wants. She wants her baby to have a life and let go of her when Mary thinks she has suffered enough.

Though the entire movie is narrated by the ghost of Aisha…sorry Aisha…I meant the voice over, it is about her parents than Aisha. Niren is an unconditionally loving husband who does everything that he can for his family and who feels guilty for the death of his first daughter. So much so that he cannot even look at her picture. He does not want to go through the same pain once again. Though he is a lovable father he has his flaws- he does not take his wife’s words seriously in the beginning and he doubts his wife. These tiny flaws are what makes you connect with Neir as a person and makes you root for him to succeed in doing what he failed to do last time. This beautiful arc is completed when he learns how to get through his way of dealing with pain and decides to put up pictures of his three kids in their drawing-room. Aditi is shown as a mother who is prepared for everything and does her homework. She has been like this ever since her first child. But this time she goes the extra step and wants her child not just to survive but live a life truly. She is not ready to buy time with her daughter at the expense of putting her through pain and struggle. The writing with this character is brilliant. She is attentive to everything that comes with her daughter. When her daughter says that she would take care of her paintings even when she is gone, she really does that. When Niren talks about moving to London, she is genuinely concerned about taking the paintings safely with her. She is not a person who is going to bury her daughter and move on. She is ready to go into her room and absorb her memories even after she is gone whereas Niren is afraid of losing her again and cannot go into her memories. Ironically, it is Niren who opens Aisha’s laptop to understand what she really wants from her parents. The love between this couple is shown beautifully through the writing. Though, Aditi initially blames Niren for ignoring the frequent fever incidents of Tanya she never again brings that up because she loves Niren. That is why this has been a secret that Aisha gets to know. There are so many beautiful moments that are deep, created by the switching screenplay and writing. The writing is complemented by the wonderful acting from all four of the lead actors.

-Sai Krishna Ramavajula