The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) has ordered the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to certify the film Lipstick Under My Burkha. According to a Hindustan Times report, the FCAT has asked for the film to be granted an ‘A’ certificate with “voluntary and some additional cuts and deletions” and has asked the filmmakers to reduce the duration of sex scenes.
Headed by former judge Justice Manmohan Sarin, the FCAT, which was approached by the film’s makers Alankrita Srivastava and Prakash Jha, has ruled that if a film handles aspect of sexual desires and their expression sensitively, without coarseness, vulgarity, or obscenity, then certification cannot be denied.
“The FCAT found that there was no violation of guidelines as neither the visuals nor the dialogues are contemptuous of racial, religious or other groups. There was no targeting of women of certain community or religion,” read the order. It has allowed the film to retain profanity in the dialogue.
The film made headlines after the CBFC refused to give it a censor certificate. Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur, the film follows four women as they search for freedom in their lives. The CBFC cited several reasons, including “women’s fantasies” and abusive language, as reasons for denying the film its censor certificate.
Read: ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ Denied Censor Certificate For Being “Lady Oriented”
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Days after the CBFC denied the film its certificate, Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani said the board was only “doing its job“. “We only have objections to the content of the movie [sic]. The treatment given to the issue of ‘women empowerment’ was the reason we did not give this film a certificate. We gave the movie back to the filmmaker and said to show the picture to FCAT or the court,” he told ANI News then.