I’m fighting the ban on Lipstick Under My Burkha. Indian women need a voice

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/27/lipstick-under-my-burkha-india-film-censorship

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When I was making Lipstick Under My Burkha, I didn’t think I was making a film that would scare a democratic country like India. I certainly didn’t expect the Central Board of Film Certification there to refuse to certify the film, thereby blocking its release. Their reasons include that it is “lady oriented”, it contains “sexual scenes” and is “audio pornography”.

The film tells the story of four feisty women in a small town in India who try to steal a piece of freedom from within the confines of their restrained lives. I never imagined that my feminist politics would rattle the board so much that they would refuse to let the film be shown. It came as a shock – and yet, when viewed in the context of the status of women in India and the representation of women in popular Indian culture, it perhaps shouldn’t have done.

The popular Indian cinema narrative is dominated by the male gaze. Women are objectified, there to fulfil the desires of men, or they play simply peripheral, subservient parts. Women are either heroic and pure – like goddesses – or they are vamps, to be shamed and discarded. There is very little space for realistic portrayals of ordinary women who laugh and cry, who are flawed and funny, who have desires and dreams of their own. Women who are struggling to gain agency over their own lives and bodies. In short, real women.

In a culture where female actors do “item-songs” – in which they dance among crowds of ogling men and the camera mindlessly moves up and down their bodies – a small, independent, spirited film like Lipstick Under My Burkha threatens to challenge the status quo. How dare women tell stories from their own points of view? How dare women strive for agency over their own bodies? How dare women share their intimate dreams? How dare an older woman express her sexuality? How dare these women exist?

Thank you for all your support for #LipstickUnderMyBurkha against this ridiculous regressiveness. We won't be silenced. #CensorTheCensors pic.twitter.com/sBSSbx5FRy

It is in that context that my film has been silenced; it is part of a systematic silencing of the female voice in India’s popular culture. We are being told that only the dominant narrative is allowed to exist, that there is no space for alternatives.

There should be no censorship at all in a democratic and free country – films can be classified, but they shouldn’t be barred from release. Adults who are considered mature enough to elect a government must be considered mature enough to make choices about the culture they wish to consume. So all kinds of films should be available to the audience: films that support the status quo as well as films that present differing points of view.

India is a difficult country for women. Violence, gender discrimination, glass ceilings in the work place, sexual harassment on the streets, dowry, forced marriages and female foeticide … the list goes on. In a country like this, shouldn’t the voices of women be encouraged and given more space? Instead we have a situation where a small film that dares to tell a story from a female point of view is being silenced. We are being told that our voices do not matter. We are being told it is better to shut up and comply.

As a woman, and as a filmmaker, I have decided that I will not shut up. I refuse to be silenced. I will not be discouraged. I will fight to ensure that Lipstick Under My Burkha is released in cinemas in India. And I will continue to make “lady-oriented” films as long as I can.

• Lipstick Under My Burkha was awarded the Glasgow film festival 2017 Audience Award, supported by Scotrail, last night