The answer lies in the — the scrolling comments that overlay the screen. When a young woman in Shanghai watches a clip of the protagonist buying a red lipstick hidden inside her burkha, the screen floods with flying Chinese characters: "I hide my tattoo under my work uniform." "My mother hides her divorce papers under her prayer mat." "We are all sisters under the cloth." On Bilibili, the "burkha" becomes a universal metaphor for any suffocating identity — conservative small towns, high-pressure academic life, or performative social media personas. The "lipstick" is not just makeup; it is a rebellious pixel, a private joy, an unspoken dream.
For the uninitiated, Lipstick Under My Burkha is a 2016 Indian film directed by Alankrita Shrivastava. It follows four women in a small Indian town who use forbidden cosmetics and secret phone calls to claw back a sense of self from the clutches of patriarchal tradition. The film was famously banned by the Indian Censor Board for being "lady-oriented" and containing "sexual scenes," only to be released after an uproar. lipstick under my burkha bilibili
The platform’s algorithm, usually busy recommending wholesome pet videos, accidentally stumbles into this niche every few months. A clip from the film will suddenly get 500,000 views overnight — then vanish, flagged for "sensitive content." But like the lipstick itself, it always reappears. Re-uploaded. Re-titled. "A film about fabric colors." "A fashion vlog." The answer lies in the — the scrolling
Editors on Bilibili have re-cut the film into bite-sized, 10-minute essays, pairing its rawest scenes with lo-fi beats or clips of powerful female anime characters. The comments section is a confessional booth. One user writes: "I watched this while my parents thought I was studying for the Gaokao. The lipstick is my secret art account." For the uninitiated, Lipstick Under My Burkha is
If you scroll deep into the labyrinthine corners of Bilibili — past the anime reactions, the danmaku-filled gaming streams, and the viral Chinese pop idol performances — you will find a quiet, radical subculture. There, nestled under tags like #WomenEmpowerment and #BannedFilms, floats the spectral presence of Lipstick Under My Burkha .
Shades of Red in a Sea of Black: "Lipstick Under My Burkha" on Bilibili