Occasionally, the combined charm of the star cast does lift the film, especially when they are goofing off in their fancy farmhouse-type home, keeping in sync with the family’s rise in fortunes.

The Sky is Pink deals with extreme anguish but it feels too sanitized. Still, at the end, when you see photos of the real Aisha, Ishaan,  Niren and Aditi, the weight of their tragedy and force of their indomitable spirit hits home. I just wish I had felt that through the film.

Having an almost picture perfect cast can sometimes get in the way of a natural storytelling style but this family scores well on that front.

Priyanka Chopra gives an effortless performance which emphasizes why she was sorely missed on the big screen in the last three years.

This ploy, of a child’s courage to look death in the eyes and talk to us about it, has some power and function at the beginning. But when it goes on and on, it starts to grate.

I felt impaled by the film’s relentless emotional badgering, constant telling us, and not showing, how terribly tragic it all is.

Aisha is fleshed out with charm and conviction by Zaira. Farhan provides the perfect foil to the poised Priyanka.

‘The Sky is Pink’ is definitely a stirring watch as your heart goes out to the Chaudhary family and their zest for making every moment count, despite the trying times they go through. This one scores high on the emotional quotient.

‘The Sky Is Pink’ Review: An Unusual Grief Drama Obsessed With the Possibility of Life After Death

Overall, this bitter-sweet film will make you laugh, will make you cry and will surely make you ruminate on the glorious uncertainty of life… 

You have to give it to heavyweight Bollywood producers backing this heartbreakingly intimate subject, and the top stars — particularly Priyanka, in top-form, as the ferociously indefatigable tigress for a mom — mainstreaming this delicate script into a picture you’ve got to warm theatre-seats for. And no, Farhan isn’t miscast at all. His character’s life pans out far beyond Chandni Chowk thereafter! Perfect.

Large passages of The Sky Is Pink are swaddled in sorrow, as you might expect, but the film’s stand-out quality is its commitment to its positivity. Without seeming to try too hard, it is funny, believable and heartwrenching all rolled into one. Death in the storyline is as inevitable as it is for all of us in real life, but what this film does is to celebrate lives well lived.

For all its flaws, The Sky Is Pink works for the simple moral science lesson it leaves behind: Your loved ones matter most. Come to think of it, nothing regales the true-blue Bollywood buff than that sort of a message.

Writers Juhi Chaturvedi and Nilesh Maniyar ensure that the film’s morbid subject is rendered in a light, accessible manner. But while the dialogue sets a friendly tone, the background score takes it a bit too far and sometimes, seems distractingly upbeat for the proceedings. Director Shonali Bose is certain of what she wants to achieve through this story — depict a crushing yet inspiring story of a girl who has accepted that the odds aren’t in her favour and yet, hopes to get even with life.

…it’s a long feature. Clocking in at more than 140 minutes, it feels bloated at certain places. Don’t give up on the movie though. ‘The Sky is Pink’ is a keeper.

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