Lipstick Under My Burkha Review - A Revolution in Hindi Cinema

CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani called Lipstick Under My Burkha lady-oriented, ‘their fantasy above life’ and said it was full of ‘contagious sex scenes’. He couldn’t be more right. And that is what the phenomenon of Lipstick Under My Burkha aims to tell you. There are men like Mr. Nihalani who suppress women and this film aims at taking a sledgehammer to patriarchy.

The film is a gritty, scary look into Bhopal. It doesn’t feature Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a crime lord in crime-ridden parts of rural India, instead talks about a much great evil. The treatment of women in developing parts of a developing country. The film follows four lives of Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur. Konkona’s role is more fleshed out than the other three, which I’m sorry to say, makes you care for her the most.

The four women are at the top of their game. Konkona perfectly shows Shirin, a woman who desperately wants her husband to respect her and at the same time, wants to be more than a housewife. Buaji, played by Ratna Pathak is amazing. Aahana Kumra takes a little slimy written character who’s interested in sex and makes her fun to watch. But props are to Plabita Borthakur, who plays a girl you and I have seen over and over in Bollywood. We’ve seen her this year itself in Badri Ki Dulhania and Jolly LLB 2 – the small town girl who’s looking to break rules. But she outshines both Alia Bhatt and Huma Qureshi in those films.

Writer-director Alankrita Shrivastava takes a fantastic cinematographer, her intelligence and wit and some great direction to make Lipstick. Another thing I noticed was how seamlessly, Alankrita carefully makes it look like it was done in a haste. The walls are peeled and chipped and the toothbrush holder is nothing but a cup where one woman makes out with a man. The cars are tacky, the Diwali melas look old and out of a 60s film.

But this is rural India and we are submerged into the narrative way early on in the film. The first half is seamless and the second half is a little bumpier but just because you too are standing up to male patriarchy by watching Lipstick Under My Burkha, you are empowered and that’s what makes this film so memorable. Another two people who I was in love with were Vikrant Massey with some weird hair but kickass dialogues and Sushant Singh as Konkona’s rapist husband who’s ultimately unfaithful.

What Alankrita gives us with a light touch are the best of the film. The fact that Shirin, Konkona’s character, isn’t as hurt that her husband is seeing another woman as much as that he can actually show affection and love … just not to her, is hilarious. The black comedy genre that the film falls into is befitting. It’s hilarious, witty, smart and sharp. Some parts of the film are a bit extreme, but for 98% of the runtime, it’s dark, it’s twisted and delicious.

My suggestion is that you watch Lipstick Under My Burkha. It’s a new wave of Indian cinema. Despite some bumps, it’s a phenomenon that nobody should miss. I say to the year that has given us deplorable cinema like Tubelight and Rangoon, on a scale of one to five, I’m giving the best film of 2017, a … 4 1/2 out of 5. It’s that good. Don’t even think of missing this twisted tale that is so shocking and will teach you a thing or two about loving, respecting and truly thinking about the journey that each woman not only in rural but in urban India has to go through … just because she’s a woman.