Lipstick Under My Burkha wins Tokyo International award, but fails CBFC test
Prakash Jha is facing a hard time with the Central Board of Film Certification, which has refused to certify his upcoming film Lipstick Under My Burkha.
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Published: 23rd February 2017 05:00 PM |
Last Updated: 25th February 2017 02:53 PM
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Screengrab from the trailer of Lipstick Under My Burkha.
Prakash Jha is again facing a hard time with the Central Board of Film Certification, which has refused to certify his upcoming film Lipstick Under My Burkha.
Earlier last year, the CBFC's examining committee and Jha's team had been at loggerheads over 11 cuts introduced in his movie Jai Gangaajal, over the use of cuss words like 'saala' and 'ghanta', which are terms used in day-to-day life, as was argued by Jha.
For Lipstick Under My Burkha, CBFC gave a longer list of reasoning. The letter read: "The story is lady oriented, their fantasy above (sic) life. There are contanious (sic) sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit (sic) sensitive touch about one particular section of society, hence film refused under guidelines...”
An enraged Jha spoke to the daily Mumbai Mirror, which quoted him as saying, "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. Films should challenge the status quo which is what Lipstick Under My Burkha perhaps does and I believe our audience deserve to watch it.”
Alankrita Shrivastava the director of the film feels that the movie, being a feminist one, challenges patriarchy and that's why CBFC did not want to certify the film. "As a filmmaker, I stand by the story and will fight for it till the end," she was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror.
The film, produced by Jha, revolves around four girls -- a burqa-clad college girl, a young beautician, a mother of three and a 55-year-old widow who rediscovers her sexuality.
The trailer of the film was released on October 14, 2016 and had captivated the audience with the opening line 'That moment when a girl craves to be a woman'.
WATCH the trailer here:
The film won the Oxfam Award for Best Film on Gender Equality at the Mumbai Film Festival and the Spirit of Asia Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
The cast includes stars of alternative cinema like Konkona Sen Sharma and Ratna Pathak, apart from Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur, Sushant Singh and Vaibbhav Tatwawdi.
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