Critics’ Verdict: ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ Is a Winner

Check out how critics are reacting to ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’.

Film: Lipstick Under My Burkha
Director: Alankrita Shrivastava
Cast: Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona SenSharma, Aahana Kumra, Plabita, Vikrant Massey

Excerpts from reviews of Lipstick Under My Burkha:

Despite the grim themes of female subjugation and the right to choose (your career, your spouse, the timing of a pregnancy, when you want to have sex and when you do not), Shrivastava tells the story with a light touch, and there is as much to smile about as to weep over in this film. The female leads are all stupendous, almost as if each is tripping over the other to be better than the rest. I dare you to watch this film and not fall in love with Ratna Pathak Shah, in a role that might easily have been caricatured by a lesser artiste collaborating with a lesser filmmaker. Konkona Sensharma is brilliant in an unassuming way. Aahana Kumra is a firecracker. And the multi-talented Plabita Borthakur is a find... So of course Lipstick Under My Burkha could potentially upset many, many people. It has the ability to grab a person by the collar, shake them up and make them feel unsettled even if they refuse to introspect. I am willing to bet that Pahlaj Nihalani’s Censor Board will not be the last conservatives unnerved by this feisty, disturbing yet celebratory film.

Anna Vetticad (Firstpost)

Alankrita Shrivastava’s sophomore film Lipstick Under My Burkha boldly goes where Bollywood fears to tread. A well-acted drama with a feminist streak that is decidedly inclusive, it delivers four very satisfyingly-fleshed-out women characters whose inner lives are its main focus. ...Lipstick Under My Burkha does achieve outweighs its shortcomings. Here is that rare feminist film that is interested in showing us the lived experiences of women, rather than checking clichés off a list made up of out-of-context newspaper headlines. Here is a film that does not confuse feminism with misandry and succeeds, to a fair extent, in showing how patriarchy is deeply ingrained within women as well as men.

Suprateek Chatterjee (supramario.wordpress.com)

What makes Lipstick Under My Burkha the film it is, is the upfront, frank manner in which female desire and fantasy are treated, running like a strong, vital thread through the film. A song I love goes: where do you go to my lovely, when you’re alone in your head? Lipstick Under My Burkha takes us into that space, and lets its characters out, to start walking down forbidden paths, finding support in sisterhood, and in the recognition that we all have shades of Rosie in us. It is a film to be celebrated. Take a bow, producer Prakash Jha, director Alankrita Shrivastava, and the entire cast and crew. And now excuse me while I go looking for my deepest, reddest lipstick.

Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express)