Lipstick Under My Burkha controversy: Here's Pahlaj Nihalani's side of the story

The Censor Board of Film Certification is always in news for some reason or the other and this time it is making headlines for the most bizarre reason one could have ever imagined. Recently, Prakash Jha’s Lipstick Under My Burkha came under the radar of the CBFC and the film has been denied certification.

The board in its letter to the filmmaker told: There are continuous sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society, hence film refused. This reason given by the CBFC was slammed by many bigwigs from the film fraternity and also questioned the board’s credibility.

Not only this, the film also landed itself in trouble with Bhopal’s All India Muslim Tyohar Committee, which has decided to boycott the film. The committee claims that the film shows Burkha in a bad light and has hurt the religious sentiments of the community.

Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, Lipstick Under My Burkha is a story of four women, who live a secret life to explore what life has to offer and are in search of a little freedom. The movie features Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur in lead roles.

While everybody was blaming Pahlaj Nihalani for denying certification to the film, he in an interview with The Economic Times told a completely different story. He said:

People are not aware of how the CBFC works. There is an act, a rulebook and guidelines as per which we can certify the films. Unlike other countries, where they have 5-7 different ratings, India only has 3. We are handicapped because of the limitations of the ratings system. We have to follow the law and there is nothing above ‘A’ certificate.

And to our surprise, Nihalani also revealed that he himself has submitted recommendations to amend the current system with more gradings.

Well, after listening to this side of the story whom will you blame now?