Indian Film Festival of Melbourne opens with Lipstick Under My Burkha

All set to celebrate 'Diversity' this year, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017 (IFFM ) 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 August 10 with the opening night film — Lipstick Under My Burkha. Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava the film boasts of a stellar starcast 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 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.

According to sources, Alankrita and Konkana will be attending the festival and will speak about how they pulled off the film. 

Speaking about 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.”

She further added, “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.”