Lipstick Under My Burkha

Plot

The story follows four women's lives in the same neighbourhood. Rosy is introduced as the heroine of an erotic pulp fiction novel titled Lipstick Dreams. Throughout the film, her story is narrated by a 55-year-old widow, Usha Parmar, as she reads the novel in secrecy. In a small neighborhood in Bhopal, Usha serves as the old matriarch.

Rehana sews burkhas for her family's store. She steals make-up to wear at college where she takes off the burkha, which she is forced to wear by her family, and transforms into a jeans-wearing singer who loves Miley Cyrus.

Leela is a young beautician who runs her own parlor. She wishes to travel the world with her secret lover, Arshad, who runs a small photo studio. She frequently arranges meetings with professional destination wedding businesses and offers her make-up services and Arshad's photography, in the hopes of free world-wide travel for both of them.

Shireen is a burkha-wearing house-wife secretly working as a door-to-door sales-woman. Her husband, Rahim, is sexually-abusive and forbids the use of contraceptives, due to which she gets multiple secret abortions and emergency contraceptives. Rahim uses Shireen only to satisfy his sexual urges, while she yearns for affection.

Rehana participates in the ongoing protest against the ban on jeans. Later, Rehana is pleasantly surprised when Namrata invites her to a weekend house party. To prepare for the event, Rehana steals a dress and boots from the mall.

At the request of Leela's impoverished mother, Usha arranges for Leela's marriage with a man named Manoj. On the day of her engagement, Leela has sex with Arshad and films it on her cellphone. Her mother catches her and scolds her for tarnishing their reputation. It is revealed that Leela's mother makes her living as a nude model for art students.

Usha is pranked at the swimming pool and almost drowns. She is rescued by the swimming instructor Jaspal, who suggests that she take lessons. Usha begins to fantasize about Jaspal and buys a swimsuit to begin taking lessons from him. She eventually engages in phone sex with him, under the alias "Rosy". Jaspal is under the impression that Rosy is Komal, a young girl in his class.

Cast

Ratna Pathak as Usha "Rosy" Buaji

Konkana Sen Sharma as Shireen Aslam

Plabita Borthakur as Rehana Abidi

Aahana Kumra as Leela

Shashank Arora as Dhruv, Rehana's boyfriend

Sushant Singh as Rahim Aslam, Shireen's husband

Vikrant Massey as Arshad, Leela's boyfriend

Vaibhav Tatwawaadi as Manoj, Leela’s fiancé

Sonal Jha as Leela's mother

Mayur More as Michael Jackson aka mj

Jagat Singh Solanki as Jaspal

Anwar Khan as Abidi

Namita Dubey as Namrata

Rajesh Tiwari as Ram

Ahmed Khan as Madanlal

Preeti Kochhar as Zeba

Garima Goel as Preeti

Disha Arora as Fatima

Jatin Jaiswal as Lakhan

Sonal Joshi as Sita

Vyoma Parihar as Lakshmi

Sahiba Vij as Chanda

Saurabh Pandey as Veer

Screening

Lipstick Under My Burkha was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival that was held 20–27 October 2016. It was also screened at the Tokyo Film Festival that was held from 25 October to 3 November 2016. The film has notably earned eleven international film festival awards prior to its official release. As of July 2017, it has been screened in over 35 film festivals across the world. The world premiere was at the Tokyo International Film Festival, while the Indian premiere was at the Mumbai Film Festival.

Release

The film was initially denied a release in India in January 2017, after the country's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) refused a certificate, stating that "There are contagious [sic] sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society". The filmmakers appealed this decision to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). The FCAT viewed the film and communicated its concerns to the film producers on 27 May 2017. The film producers came back to FCAT with a list of 16 voluntary cuts that addressed the raised concerns. In addition to the 16 cuts, the FCAT suggested some more cuts and directed the CBFC to issue an A certificate to the movie following the changes.

Shrivastava told Agence-France Presse: "Of course I would have loved no cuts, but the FCAT has been very fair and clear. I feel that we will be able to release the film without hampering the narrative or diluting its essence." The second official trailer released on 27 June 2017. The film was released in 400 screens on 21 July 2017 in India. The film was made at a budget of ₹ 6 crore.

India

In an interview with Kovid Gupta, Shrivastava mentioned that she did not make the film "with the intention of teaching or preaching" but was glad that "it was able to start a discussion!"

Stutee Ghosh of The Quint gave 4.5/5 stars and said, "These women and their lipstick dreams will stay with us long after the film is over. How many films can claim to do that? Worth all the hype and more Lipstick Under My Burkha is a must watch." Deepali Arya of Desi Martini gave 4.5/5 stars and said, "The narrative and story-telling is mature and powerful and it holds a mirror to the society without being too didactic or moralistic." Nihit Bhave of Times of India gave 4/5 stars and said, "The women portraying these lives on screen give Lipstick... its true color. Plabita and Aahana are instantly relatable and light up the screen. Konkona’s helplessness makes you think about every woman who is a second-class citizen in her own home. And Ratna’s infatuated Usha, a woman in the throes of passion, will make you look at older women in a new light." Mayank Shekhar of Mid-Day gave 4/5 stars and said, "The issues and lives in this film are evidently universal enough to be viewed and loved at film festivals and audiences across the globe." Kriti Tulsiani of News18 India gave 4/5 stars and said, "The strength of this film, however, lies in Alankrita Shrivastava’s handling of the subject. She doesn’t provide us with answers, or with superficial solutions, but just offers us a narrative, bold enough to arouse a woman’s hidden desires and valiant enough to question the patriarch mindset." Raya Ghosh of Times Now gave 4/5 stars and said "It is a cinematic masterpiece as such that it is comic and sympathetic - Alankrita Shrivastava scrutinises every corner and empathy to inculcate a stirring account of women’s empowerment." Shreemi Verma of MissMalini gave 4/5 stars and said, "I don’t think there’s ever a dull moment in this fearlessly feminist film. Lipstick Under My Burkha took its time to find a way to Indian theaters, it’s our job now to make it stay for a while." Smrity Sharma of India.com gave 4/5 stars and said, "Their emotions, frustrations, anger and desires bear a universal appeal. Women watching the film would be able to relate to the stories of at least one of these women and this fact alone wins for the film." Prashant Jain of Navbharat Times gave 4/5 stars and said, "Director Alankrita Shrivastav has shown in the film that in our society, the story of the sorrows of women is the same, even if it is to follow any religion, whether it is a virgin, a married or an old man."

Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times gave 3.5/5 stars and said, "Every character in the film deals with different kinds of prejudices and restrictions but eventually, they prove to be the same - curbing the freedom of women. The small town setting enables the four characters to be part of each others’ lives and eventually come together." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 3.5/5 stars and said, "What makes the film it is, is the upfront, frank manner in which female desire and fantasy are treated, running like a strong, vital thread through the film. Dreams can keep you alive, and age is just a number." Tushar P Joshi of BollywoodLife.com gave 3.5/5 stars and said, "Lipstick Under My Burkha will hopefully bring to light some issues that need attention and start a discussion or a conversation between women who are struggling for the most basic right in life – one to be happy." Rohit Bhatnagar of The Asian Age gave 3.5/5 stars and said, "The film touches upon serious issues but with a humorous flair. This tale of women's equality and liberation is a mirror of real India." Madhuri of Filmibeat gave 3.5/5 stars and said, "If you are looking out for some power-packed content then, opt for this bold shade of lipstick which has a long-lasting impact!"

International

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10.

Box office

The film released in India on the same day as Munna Michael with merely 400 screens. Media speculated this clash to affect the business of this film, as the latter released across 3000 screens with a star cast. Lipstick Under My Burkha earned ₹1.22 crore on its opening day. The controversy with the CBFC generated enough hype from the media, and a strong positive word of mouth from various critics attracted the audience. The film witnessed growth in the first weekend earnings and also held strong hold on weekdays. On first and second weekday, it earned ₹1.28 and ₹1.36 crore respectively which are higher than its opening day earning, becoming one of the rare films having stronger weekday earning than opening weekend in the Indian box office. It recovered its cost of production within four days of release, and earned ₹10.96 crore in the first week. The film was a commercial success and was declared as an "Hit" by the box office.