The Sky Is Pink is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language biographical romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Shonali Bose and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Ronnie Screwvala and Priyanka Chopra Jonas under their production companies Roy Kapur Films, RSVP Movies, and Purple Pebble Pictures, respectively, in association with Ivanhoe Pictures. A co-production between India and the United States, the film stars Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim and Rohit Suresh Saraf, and is based on the true story of Aisha Chaudhary, who suffered from severe combined immunodeficiency and pulmonary fibrosis, and tells the story of her parents Aditi and Niren as they navigate their marriage while dealing with their daughter's illness. The film marked the last film of Wasim's career prior to her retirement from Hindi cinema.
Aditi Chaudhary approached Bose to make a film based on her daughter's life story. Although intrigued by the story, Bose instead chose to depict the parents' story from Aisha's point of view by incorporating first-person narrative, focusing on their marriage and the effect of their child's illness on their lives and relationship. Bose wrote the screenplay based on the details she gathered through interviewing both of her parents. Nilesh Maniyar wrote the additional screenplay while Juhi Chaturvedi wrote the Hindi dialogues. Principal photography took place in Mumbai, London, Delhi and the Andaman Islands. The film's soundtrack was composed by Pritam while Gulzar wrote the lyrics for the songs. The film explores themes such as death and its acceptance, motherhood, grief and the effect of the loss of a child on relationships, particularly on the parents' companionship.
The film premiered at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2019 and was released worldwide on 11 October the same year. The Sky Is Pink received positive reviews, with praise for Bose's writing and direction, and the performances of the cast. However, it did not perform well commercially, grossing 34.41 crore at the box office against a budget of 24 crore. At the 65th Filmfare Awards, The Sky Is Pink received 3 nominations – Best Film (Critics), Best Actress (Chopra Jonas) and Best Supporting Actress (Wasim). The film is now available on Netflix.
Plot Aisha Chaudhary narrated the story of her parents Moose (her mother) and Panda (her father) from the afterlife. Aditi and Niren Chaudhary are a young couple who come from different backgrounds. The couple get married and Aditi becomes pregnant with their first child Tanya Chaudhary, who dies within months of her birth due to the severe combined immunodeficiency condition.
Aditi and Niren have a second child named Ishaan. A few years later, Aditi bore their third child, a girl named Aisha. They later learn Aisha has the same medical condition as Tanya did and are heartbroken. After the doctors in Delhi give up on Aisha's treatment, the couple go to London where they learn the disease could be treated with a very costly bone marrow transplant. Niren starts working to earn the money while also asking for crowdfunding via a radio station. After several weeks, they learn that several people have donated money for Aisha's treatment. The surgery is successful but Aisha is kept under doctor's watch. Aditi decides to stay in London while Niren returns to India with his family and his son Ishaan.
Several years later, Aisha has recovered from her illness, and Niren and Aditi decide to move back to India. They move to the outskirts of Delhi and buy a large, opulent bungalow. After collapsing at a party, Aisha is diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a side-effect of the chemotherapy she underwent. With Aisha's life shortened, Aditi sets out to fulfill all of Aisha's dreams such as adopting a pet, seeing aquatic life and writing a book. As Aisha's condition worsens, Aditi grows increasingly overprotective and stressed, and suffers a psychotic breakdown and is hospitalized. Aditi does everything in her power to ensure Aisha gets to see the first copy of her book," My Little Epiphanies", before she dies.
After the death of Aisha, Aditi and Niren's relationship is strained. While living together, they grow apart and are constantly fighting with each other. Niren is angry and leaves for London while Aditi stays in India. Aditi later goes to meet Niren in London and they reconcile by keeping the memories of Aisha.
Cast The cast has been listed below:
Priyanka Chopra as Aditi 'Moose' Chaudhary; Niren's wife, Tanya, Ishaan and Aisha's mother Farhan Akhtar as Niren 'Panda' Chaudhary; Aditi's husband, Tanya, Ishaan and Aisha's father Zaira Wasim as Aisha 'Aishi' Chaudhary; Niren and Aditi's youngest daughter, Ishaan and Tanya's Younger sister Rohit Saraf as Ishaan 'Giraffe' Chaudhary; Niren and Aditi's eldest son, Tanya's younger brother, Aisha's elder brother. Vidhaan Sharma as Little Ishaan Manas Mittal as Anshu Tandon Rajshri Deshpande as Anita Tandon Lushin Dubey as Mrs. Tandon Sunil Chitkara as Mr. Chaudhary Nirupama Verma as Mrs. Chaudhary Puja Sarup as Mohini Gurpal Singh as RJ Arjun Gill (in London) Sheena Khalid as Rita Sudhanva Deshpande as Dr. Nirvick Gulati Manisha Chudasama as Santoshi Kumari, servant in Chaudhary's Delhi farmhouse Paras Rattan Sharda as Jeet Kumar, servant in Chaudhary's Delhi farmhouse Salmin Sheriff as Dr. Batliwala Rishi Deshpande as Tanya's doctor Virhi as Tanya 'Taanu' Chaudhary; Niren and Aditi's eldest daughter, Ishaan and Aisha's elder sister Mala Hashmi as a Christian woman Akshay Joshi as a store assistant Nargis Nandal as a pilot Khaleel as an orthopaedic surgeon Raabia Marici as Ishaan's girlfriend
Production
Development
The production of The Sky Is Pink started when Aisha Chaudhary's mother Aditi Chaudhary approached Shonali Bose to make a film about her daughter, who had seen the trailer of Bose's film Margarita with a Straw (2015) thirty times and was eager to watch the film, saying, "I hope I live to see this film". Aisha died of pulmonary fibrosis when she was 18, two weeks after watching the trailer; she did not live to see the film. Nine months later, Aditi Chaudhary tracked down Bose, who was living in Los Angeles. Aditi was adamant as she only wanted Bose to tell the story of her daughter. Chaudhary and Bose interacted over Skype and later, Bose personally interviewed Aditi Chaudhary and Niren Chaudhary for eight hours a day for two weeks to gather all of the details of their story. Bose said the couple "talked and cried and healed through the process of those narrations".
Bose said she was drawn towards the story because she had lost her son and so was ready to explore the subject in film and bring some of her own perspective to it. Bose, however, preferred to tell the story of Aditi and Niren, a couple, dealing with their child's illness, saying that she was more interested in the story of parents dealing with their daughter's illness and not of a death-defying "heroic teenager". Bose said she was "intrigued and inspired" by the relationship of the family, observing that they were a rare couple to stay together after the death of their child. She said she "wanted to explore what happens to a love story, to a marriage, when faced with the loss of a child", noting that her own marriage ended after the death of her son, and that four out of five marriages dissolve after a child dies. Bose wanted to make an "unusual romantic film" and the lives of Aditi and Niren fit the bill.
Bose began writing the screenplay based on the Chaudharys' story, approaching it as a "love story between two people who fell in love when they were only 16 and now at 57 are still inseparable and in love despite major tragedies that tear most couples apart". Bose chose to tell the film from Aisha's point of view, focusing on 25 years of her parents' marriage and thus incorporating the first-person narrative. Nilesh Maniyar, a longtime collaborator of Bose, had met Aditi and Niren, and wanted to make a documentary about Aisha because he felt there was more to explore. Maniyar saw Bose's film as very different from his, both projects being in different formats. Maniyar had also researched Aisha's life so Bose invited him to write the additional screenplay. Juhi Chaturvedi wrote the Hindi dialogue.
Bose wanted to stay true to the real-life events and depict them as they unfolded without fictionalizing or deflecting from real incidents. She said, "I wrote the script as close as possible to the truth. So, when deciding the look and feel of the film, I decided to stay with realism and be as authentic as possible." While writing the script, Bose met with and interviewed Aisha's family and friends. She also read Aisha's writing, including her emails to her brother and the artwork she made. Bose said she felt connected with Aisha even though they never met. Bose chose to be realistic and to avoid melodramatic and manipulative set-ups to express emotions. She said that she wanted to keep clear of melodrama and not exploit the audience by causing "overwrought emotions", instead wanting them "to feel what [the] characters feel but also give [them] space." In an interview with Scroll.in, Bose said Aditi was the main protagonist in early drafts because she was the central figure in the story, but she later strengthened Niren's role so that they were equals in the final draft.
Siddharth Roy Kapur liked Bose's previous film and had expressed his desire to work with her. After the acquisition of UTV Motion Pictures by The Walt Disney Company, Kapur was appointed managing director of The Walt Disney Company India in 2014 and produced several films under the new name. Kapur established his own company, Roy Kapur Films, in January 2017. When Bose found out about his new production house, she approached him with the script of The Sky Is Pink and Kapur chose it to be his company's first film. Kapur said he found the script wonderfully moving, told with humour, depth and feeling. As part of a first look deal with RSVP Movies, Kapur set the film there, collaborating with Ronnie Screwvala, the ex-UTV Studio head, as producers. In December 2018, Ivanhoe Pictures became involved to co-finance and co-produce the film. Mikey McCleary composed the background score of the film. Bose considers The Sky Is Pink the culmination of her Delhi trilogy, a series of unrelated films based on "mother-child relationship" and that are set in Delhi; the other first two films being Amu (2005) and Margarita with a Straw. The Sky Is Pink title comes from a real incident that is shown in the film.
Casting
Bose's first choice for the lead role was Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who she had in mind while writing the script. It took six months for Bose to contact Chopra Jonas, whose manager did not give her the script to read. According to Bose, Aditi Chaudhary had asked her to make a big Hindi film about her daughter but Roy Kapur initially thought it should be an independent film. He suggested Bose should get a well-known film actor first if she wanted to make the film on a bigger budget. Bose told him she wanted Chopra Jonas as Aditi and then asked him to contact her and send her a copy of the script, which he did. When Chopra Jonas read the script, she wanted to meet Bose and immediately agreed to appear in the film. She was the first actor to be cast in the film. For Aisha, Maniyar suggested Zaira Wasim, who immediately accepted the offer.