It takes balls to be a woman.

LIPSTICK. In some cultures, women are shunned for wearing it, in others women are celebrated and sometimes they use it as war paint.

This movie, although in Hindi, tells a compelling story of four women who try to overcome the adversities and boundaries that society sets for them with help from each other and their lipstick.

Set in Bhopal, Shireen, Usha, Rehana and Leela played by Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak, Plabita Borthakur and Aahana Kumra respectively, each tell a story highlighting the struggles that they face in their village which will resonate with women from all over the world.

Released in 2016, this film focuses on two Indian-Muslim women and two Hindu women of different ages and with vastly different experiences, navigating through their suffocating lives.

Throughout the movie, they try to live vicariously through Rosy, the lead in the erotic pulp fiction novel Lipstick Dreams which is narrated throughout the movie. Rosy is portrayed as a sexually liberated woman who does not answer to the many names given to her by society and is unapologetic in her pursuit for happiness.

Covertly painting the town in red, the four leading women are the very definition of what it means to want freedom under oppression.

Shireen is a mother of three who wants to be more than just a housewife. Restrictions by her overbearing and controlling husband do not stop her from secretly working as a door-to-door sales woman and a good one at that.

Usha, the narrator of Lipstick Dreams, is a middle-aged widow who has been deemed as the “Buaji” (Aunty) of the community in Bhopal for so long that she forgets that she has a name and identity of her own. The community members see her as a piety figure who abstains from all things risqué and reckless and feels as if she must uphold this idea that they have of her.

Rehana, a college student, is forced to work at her parents’ shop sewing burkhas but wants the freedom to express herself through her clothing, music and dance.

Leela is a beautician whose one goal is to make it out of Bhopal with her photographer boyfriend and travel the world. She is unfortunately chained to the responsibilities of improving her social standing by her mother.

As these women try and find the balance between need and want, things become complicated for all of them.

Director Alankrita Shrivastava provides excellent insight of what it means to be a woman, living in a time where everyone else is moving forward and they are being held back.

It shows the similar struggles that all these women face under one roof despite their differences and these hardships are often caused by the people who are closest to them.

These strong and flawed women are brought together as the film highlights the glass ceilings built by society and showcases how they can be so much more than what others perceive them to be.

Lipstick Under My Burkha makes a bold statement that hopefully will leave a lasting impression for generations to come.

The four women who dominated the screen (from left to right): Shireen, Usha, Rehana and Leela. Source: BollywoodMDB.com

Written by: Shaleen Surendra