Lipstick Under My Burkha review: A movement on its own

Directed By: Alankrita Shrivastava
Produced By: Prakash Jha
Cast: Konkona Sensharma, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur
Duration: 1 hour 57 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3.5/5

There’s something strange about fantasies. The most paradoxical ones tend to come true; the ones you have nurtured in suppression and watered with your desires. And when they don’t? They leave you with a beguiling, seductive urge of setting yourself free. Alankrita Shrivastava’s ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ is a beautifully woven story of four fantasies flowing parallel to each other, and somewhat finding solace in each other.

Four women live lives with plenty of insurrection inside. Usha Parmar (Ratna Pathak Shah) urf Bua Ji is a widow of 55. She has starved herself of intimacy and tenderness of love for so long that she barely remembers she even has a name. An almost forgotten spring blossoms as she stirs her own desires. Every little move to fancy a little more from life leads to a consequence she doesn’t have a clue about. Shireen Aslam (Konkona Sensharma), an obedient (because there’s no other choice) wife and a mother of three, is worn out of pleasing her husband’s sexual needs which barely require any consent from her.

Amid the dread, she secretly goes to work and efficiently keeps it a secret too! Rihana Abidi (Plabita Borthakur), a Miley Cyrus fan and an ardent dancer, is born to an orthodox Muslim family. The burkha-clad girl leaves home and throws it away. The dampened mohallas of Bhopal colour themselves up in her vision as Rihana gets the taste of college, students’ movements, the forbidden late night parties and umm… a sudden splash of love too! Little does she know, the freedom might tax her heavy. Leela (Aahana Kumra) has plans to elope with her boyfriend (Vikrant Massey), a local photographer, and start off her own business wherein her family has settled her marriage already. Leela is this outspoken woman, not afraid of voicing what she wants. Humiliation is all you get for being such a woman!

What started off as a lighthearted story of four women stealing, lying and playing around to secretly fulfil what they want, ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ developed to be a courageous tale. Need of the hour, to say the least. Here’s a woman who was taught not to cherish what she craved for and at 55, life suddenly knocks. Or a woman who revolts in silence. Or may be the one stuck in between love and its consequences? Or the one born too ahead of her time and her people. Which story appeals you the most? Maybe, they all. The battles are familiar, so are the ones in guilt.

In a long time, here’s a film with a seamless screenplay, editing, cinematography and art direction. Not abstract, they’re rather real and compact in your eyes. ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’, that way, becomes more believable, closer to life. Alankrita Shrivastava, with this, leaves us longing for more from her.

We dare not say a word about the performers. Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sensharma and Plabita Borthakur slay it when the say, and slay it when they don’t. Just, Aahana Kumra could be more impactful, more expressive. And the one who does wonders within his limits is Vikrant Massey.

The film ends on an open note. You know not whether the women in protagonists are gonna surrender, or keep on battling. But then, isn’t the uncertainty what makes life a bit more thrilling to live?

Caution of words: Might seem too progressive for many. For Pahlaj Nihalani, definitely!

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