The Indian Censor Board has honestly become such a joke. If you thought all the previous allegations made by the Censor Board were bogus, wait till you hear this one. Alankrita Srivastava‘s film Lipstick Under My Burkha explores the sexuality of four women as we follow them through their sexcapades. It was hugely popular at the recently held MAMI film festival in Mumbai, and was greatly lauded for being a liberating film for the Indian woman.
But in a new turn of events, the censor board has denied it a certificate for being too ‘lady oriented’. If this doesn’t make you go ‘WTF?’, I don’t know what will. This is what the film’s producer Prakash Jha and director Alankrita were told by the CBFC.
The story is lady oriented, their fantasy above life. There are contentious sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society, hence film refused under guidelines 1(a), 2(vii), 2(ix), 2(x), 2(xi), 2(xii) and 3(i).CBFC’s chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani didn’t comment on the matter but Prakash Jha came out and slammed them. He told Mumbai Mirror,
As a country we must encourage freedom of expression but the CBFC refusing to certify films that tell uncomfortable stories discourages filmmakers from pushing the envelope.Alankrita also added that she thinks the film has been denied a certificate because it’s a ‘feminist film with a strong female voice which challenges patriarchy.’ If anything, the censor board should laud films like this which are different and also try to make a difference to the world we live in. No film before has been denied for being too ‘male oriented’, and let’s face it, a lot of Bollywood films are largely male oriented. Really makes you wonder where the CBFC’s false sense of morality disappears then.Anyway, here’s a trailer of the film for you to enjoy in the meantime.
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