Lipstick Under My Burkha to open Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017 which is all set to celebrate Diversity this year will have the much talked about film, Lipstick Under My Burkha as its opening film. This year, the festival, which earned the Melbourne Award in 2016, is all set to screen 60 films in 20 languages, which have been carefully curated to sync with the central theme of diversity.

The festival will kick off on 10th of August with the opening night film – Lipstick Under My Burkha. Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava the film boasts of a stellar star including powerhouses of talent – Konkona Sen Sharma and Ratna Pathak alongside Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur. The film earned rave reviews globally, but was unfortunately stuck amidst a controversy with the Indian censors leading to the ban of the film. After a much sought after the court case, the film won and was cleared off for release winning over the system to finally bring this much-acclaimed film to the theatres in India. Alankrita Srivastava and Konkana Sen Sharma will be attending the festival and will speak about how they pulled off this master stroke!.

Speaking of being the opening film, director Alankrita Shrivastava expressed her joy, “It is a great honour that Lipstick Under My Burkha will be opening the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. While the film has travelled to many parts of the world, it will be screened in Australia for the first time. I am really looking forward to the reaction of the Australian audience. Breaking through the cacophony of mainstream Indian cinema, it is wonderful that there is an Australian film festival that highlights independent Indian cinematic voices. Independent films are telling important stories, challenging the status quo and are important artistic expressions. I’m delighted to participate in the festival with Lipstick Under My Burkha.”

Lipstick Under My Burkha will release in India on July 21.