Language - Hindi
Director - Alankrita Shrivastava
Run Time - 2 hours, 12 minutes
Genre - Drama
Starring - Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak Shah
Lipstick Under My Burkha is an eye-opening movie which breaks barriers. It is a movie which touches all hearts, as it is set in realism. All around us, women are confined within walls; and this movie exposes us to that.
An interwoven tale of four characters, 'Buaji' aka Rosie who fantasizes about affairs, Shireen, who wants to work and have a career, Leela, the beautician who wants to escape this sad town, and lastly, Rehana, a teenage rebel who adores 'Miley Cyrus' and wants to dress up and sing like her but is bound by her burkha. All actors have given a commanding performance including Shashank Arora and Vikrant Massey as Dhruv and Arshad.
This is a bittersweet story, where problems are not met with superficial solutions; as in life. The mature-storytelling, accompanied by voice-over by Ratna Pathak orating a porn-novel fashions the movie as a serious drama with an inkling of humour.
The scenes, though simple, exhibit oodles of emotions. Be it the fieriness of Rehana giving a speech for freedom or Buajis fear to buy swimsuits or even Shireen's pain during intercourse. The movie is packed with emotions and Srivastava here has ensured four protagonists of various ages and backgrounds to showcase different emotions and problems each faces.
Such a movie will only impress critics in India, as it will be termed as slow and boring. But if you're a genuine movie buff, go see this movie.
My Rating - 7.3/10
