The directorial venture of Alankrita Shrivastava's 'Lipstick Under My Burkha' has been refused to grant certification by Central Board of Film Certification.
As per the reports, "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."
Alankrita screened the film for the revising committee on February 20, "This means they do not want the film to run in Indian theatres or television." She added, "The real problem doesn’t lie with the film, but in the outlook of a patriarchal society. Mainstream cinema in India is determined by the male gaze. We are used to seeing women as objects of desire, and mostly in peripheral roles. So, when a film like Lipstick... talks about the intimate desires of women, and their urge to take agency over their own bodies and lives, it runs fowl of the established code."
Shrivastava draws attention to the endemic and deep-rooted male perspective that manifests in telling ways, but rarely invites criticism. “Look at the item songs where the camera goes up and down the woman’s body, and nobody objects to that. This is the kind of hypocrisy we have failed to confront as a collective,” she says.
She finds the board’s logic, particularly “a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society” in the refusal letter, disconcerting. “The film not only won rave reviews at the Cairo film festival, but also earned glowing praise throughout Egypt, which is an Islamic country,” she says.
"I'm opposed to any kind of ban, censure or attack on a work of art, be it a movie or a book or a painting. Leave it to the people to decide. If somebody finds anything offensive in the film, they can choose not to watch it,” says Hasina Khan, founder-member of the Bebaak Collective, an umbrella of Muslim women's groups, which is spearheading a campaign opposing triple talaq and Uniform Civil Code. If the views of the director do not resonate with the viewers, they will automatically reject it," she said further.
"I am not surprised that nobody objected to the film but the CBFC. We have a very, very conservative chairperson who is acting arbitrarily, and not as per the board’s guidelines, if we take just Udta Punjab as a case in point. Mr Nihalani isn’t aware of the feminist voices emerging from within the community. Groups like Aawaaz-e-Niswaan and Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan are fighting for women’s rights. He seems to be stuck in a time warp," says Irfan Engineer(director of minority).
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