The Sky is Pink Movie Review: Cry bucket-loads; can't help

The Sky Is PinkUA Drama romanceDirector Shonali BoseCast Priyanka Chopra Jonas Zaira Wasim Farhan Akhtar Rohit SarafRatingCant put my finger on it but theres something about watching actor Farhan Akhtar placed in a nonsuaveurbane environment such as in this film where he shares an Old Delhi dwelling with a large family parents wife child etc being a naturally rustic bloke as would suit a Chandni Chowk upbringingneighbourhoodEarnest as he may well be for a part such as this its hard to tell whether by his presence alone hes simply mocking the world hes been thrown into mdash without quite meaning to of course Because try hard as you may he so doesnt look the streetDilliwallahWhich is how The Sky Is Pink starts off And in fact gets to the point so quickly that you wonder whats left to watch when the fact that a little girl just born suffers from a terminal illness is told to you in the opening scenes itself Much before the parents characters Farhan Priyanka Chopra have been developed at all mdash for you to feel any empathy for them Given the news will shatter them through and throughAlso knowing so early on that the film is essentially about death dubs it as queasily exploitative in an obvious sort of way For whos not likely to be moved by scenes of death and that too of a little childHeres what Im trying to do here Lay bare all personal apprehensions that were likely to share in the films first few minutes especially on Netflix when it drops online and probably switch to something else Which is what impatient webaudiences tend to do mdashwith so much content at their disposal and only a few hours to spare This is very different from audiences in theatres who give movies a longer rope since theyve paid for a ticket already As you mustFor one this isnt so much a film about death as it is about life Especially how we would live it for ourselves and for others if we knew exactly how much time we had in hand Would that preknowledge change the course Probably no definitelySooner or later we will all lose our loved ones Or they will lose us This movie is also about dealing with grief and as the popular Banksy quotegraffiti goes They say you die twice One time when you stop breathing And a second time a bit later on when somebody says your name for the last timeWatch the trailer of Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Farhan Akhtarstarrer The Sky Is Pinks trailer hereAt the extreme fore The Sky Is Pink titled after there being no limits to what you make of the world is about the resilience of parents who move heaven and earth for the good of their children Theyre naturally endowed with this selfless love which I presume is also an extension of love for selfThe married couple here Farhan Priyanka centre their whole life work and worklife balance on the terminally ill child they wish to provide the best possible future for mdash moving cities crowdsourcing funds for her treatment through a radio station the worksThe film is based on a true story of teenager Aisha Chaudhary all names in the script unchanged who battled a fatal immunodeficiency disease SCID and yet found within a relatively short span every joy and art that life must afford all Most significantly a sense of humour and a deepprofound understanding of life itself that eludes mostZaira Wasim mdashthe wonderkid from Dangal Secret Superstar mdash plays this little girl Never mind her bodylanguage or the ease in her expressions her very being onscreen resonates with audiences in ways thats hard to explain Im told this is her last work as an actor Which is a monumental loss Im pretty sure at some point later as an adult shell rise again like that former childstar Joaquin Phoenix who once similarly quit movies at an early stage under different but tragic circumstances to make a comeback that were still reeling underTaking off from the lead characters condition the screenplay smartly plays with structure to dive us deeper and deeper into the characters and circumstances on screen mdash rather than simply a plot And what you emerge from is an astonishingly personal story navigating through dark spaces yes but with reasonable hope and incredible insightThis is only possible when the writerdirector Shonali Bose Amu Margarita With A Straw is so personally invested in the subject that it stops becoming about exploitation or movie manipulations or even the storyfamily the films based on It seems like an emotion that the filmmakers probably been through and so wants the world to know And ponder over It just stops being just a movie thenYou have to give it to heavyweight Bollywood producers backing this heartbreakingly intimate subject and the top stars mdash particularly Priyanka in topform as the ferociously indefatigable tigress for a mom mdash mainstreaming this delicate script into a picture youve got to warm theatreseats for And no Farhan isnt miscast at all His characters life pans out far beyond Chandni Chowk thereafter PerfectAlso ReadPriyanka Chopra People 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