Have you seen women going crazy over a shade of lipstick? As if you haven’t seen red anywhere else? Or purple or coffee brown? I have seen them. Young and bold. Strange nutcases in sephora shops and the likes. Trying and removing again and again. Looking for the best match…
The young salesgirl trying her best to see the products to the customer.. How boring it would be to keep bragging about the makeup products and apply them on the visitors.. Knowing that one of them is just using the samples before buying them online, she still has to fulfill the duty to achieve her dreams. Maybe it was the only job offered to her last month… She too was finding out the right colors to paint her dreams too.. To get hold of that evasive commissions if she reaches her target… Though a meagre amount, it would be her biggest achievement…
What if the customer is someone who hasn’t ever been worn makeup apart from lipstick… What if she aspired to look good for a reason.. Inspired by the glossy attractive colors adorning the models and and enhancing their beauty, she would have come to test it out… To feel better and dress up for boosting her self confidence.. To blend into the crowd just like the foundation they talk about… To conceal her flaws which she knows but wants to hide in public…. Though for a few minutes, to live the life she dreamt of….
Every lipstick too would have their own story. On how the color was developed, on who created it, and the proportion ratio of the ingredients to give out the color. The factories where they were made. The hands behind the machines it was created in. The sweat and hidden struggles they heard from the workers while they were worked upon. Though short-lived, every lipstick product would be having a different name and identity…
Have you noticed the philosophical aspect to this? Women trying to find the right shade of lipstick. Though men maybe finicky at times to get the right shade of jeans and trousers, they never seems to have issues with colors as much as women. How many men would understand the subtle difference between pink and fuchsia? Or blue and turquoise? I believe their minds give more attention to form and function which is important too.
I watched Lipstick under the burkkha today. Reminded me of Sita’s Curse book and the hype it created. Like the book, the movie was dragging at many places. I wish they added more to the storylines. I wish they had explored more on how they found the right shade, rather than showing the repeated failures and attempts on fulfilling their dreams. I always hate loose endings, especially if there is no new takeaway from the whole story. The portrayal of hidden desires is very well depicted and throws lights on the present living conditions of women in smaller cities in this era. It also reminds me of the times, when I too found books hidden under the bed, at one of our relative’s house in Kerala. So its real, indeed.
Every woman is in the search of the right shade of lipstick, some prefer it nude, and some bright red. But the search is always there. The remarkable dialogue that touched me to the core is the one said by Leela,
” You know what our problem is? We dream too much.”
Are we really? I don’t think so…
