Indians have loved pink, especially rani pink, long before ‘Barbie’ mania took over

Indians have always had a soft spot for rani pink, from "Rocky Randhawa this side" to brides to Jawaharlal Nehru's pocket squares. The West has recently re-discovered pink, with Barbie delivering a pink turbocharge. But India never needed Barbie to teach us to love pink again; we have always embraced rani pink. Even the theatre lobby awash in pink for Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani had more pink than Barbie.

When I went to see Barbie, I realised I had missed the pink memo. Every other person in the theatre, irrespective of gender, seemed to be wearing something pink. Even the theatre lobby seemed awash in pink.

I looked more closely and realised most of that pink was thanks to the posters of Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. Barbie might be a global phenomenon but in the battle of pinks, it has been clearly out-pinked by Karan Johar’s latest film.

Just the climactic scene, with full-on band baaja baaraat as Rocky lays out the pink carpet to woo Rani, arguably has more pink than all of Barbie. And a far hotter rani pink than Barbie pink.

The West seems to have discovered (or re-discovered) pink lately and Barbie has delivered a pink turbocharge. The 2022 Valentino Fall runway show was named Valentino Pink PP. Glenn Close went to the 2022 Met Gala in an electric pink suit while Justin Bieber showed up in a hot-pink beanie at the Grammys last year. Trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson told Good Morning America that Barbie’s “hot signature pink” was “a much-welcomed mood-booster after the last few years”.

Except, as Rocky and Rani remind us, pink has been boosting the Indian mood forever and not just in Jaipur, the Pink City. We did not need Barbie to teach us to love pink once again because before Barbiecore pink or Hello Kitty pink or even Jackie Kennedy pink, we have loved our rani pink.

Rani pink, someone said, is more than a colour. It’s an emotion. Some say it was a dye derived from the roots of the Indian madder (Rubia cordiflora) which was the deep rich pink of a ruby and very popular with royalty. The West claims shocking pink had a more colourful origin. In The Secret Lives of Color, Kassia St. Clair writes that Daisy Fellowes, a notorious socialite from the 1920s and 30s wore the bright pink 17.47 carat Tête de Bélier diamond while meeting couturier Elsa Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli was so captivated by the “bright impudent” colour that she incorporated it into the packaging of her first perfume. The bottle was modelled after the torso of the sultry Mae West and the case was hot-pink. The name was Shocking.

India is not a country that shies away from colour. Our gods get orange marigolds. The gopurams of ancient temples are a riot of candy colours. Diana Vreeland, the legendary editor of Vogue magazine, famously said ‘pink is the navy blue of India’.