Volume VI Special Issue I January 2026

Name of Author : Namita Dash, Dr. Ayuta Mohanty

Title of the paper : Female Desire as Existential Freedom: A Comparative Study of Lipstick Under My Burkha and Mrs. through Beauvoirs The Second Sex

Abstract: This study examines how female desire becomes a pathway to existential freedom in contemporary Indian cinema, focusing on Lipstick Under My Burkha 2016 and Mrs. 2023 through Simone de Beauvoirs The Second Sex. Both films foreground womens inner worlds and struggles within patriarchal systems, portraying desire not as defiance but as a means of self realization. In Lipstick Under My Burkha, four women Usha, Rehana, Leela, and Shireen pursue individuality through secret pleasures, love, and ambition. Mrs, on the other hand, follows Richa, whose act of cooking becomes a mode of creativity and self expression, revealing that freedom can emerge even within domestic confines. Drawing on Beauvoirs concepts of immanence and transcendence, the study argues that desire enables women to move from limitation toward authentic existence. Together, the films reframe female desire as empowering and life affirming, enriching feminist discourse in Indian cinema.

Keywords : Female desire, Existential freedom, Immanence, Transcendence, Feminist subjectivity.

DOI :

Page Number : 104-109