Following claims that Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies bore similarities to the Arabic short film Burqa City (2019), writer Biplab Goswami issued a statement dismissing the plagiarism allegations. Meanwhile, Burqa City director Fabrice Bracq, in an interview to IFP World, expressed shock over the similarities between the two films, citing several overlapping scenes and character dynamics.

Surprised to see the similarities: Burqa City director Fabrice Bracq, director of the 2019 Arabic short film Burqa City, recently spoke to IFP World and detailed his observations on the similarities. “First of all, even before watching the film, I was surprised by how closely the pitch matched that of my short film. Notably – and this is by no means an exhaustive list – the kind, loving, naive husband who loses his wife, contrasted with the other husband who is violent and despicable. The scene with the police officer is also striking: a corrupt, violent, and intimidating policeman surrounded by two sidekicks. Of course, there’s the moment with the photo of the veiled woman,” Fabrice said.

He added, “The scene where the kind husband searches for his wife in various shops is particularly revealing – he shows the shopkeepers a photo of his veiled wife, just like in the short film, and then the shopkeeper’s wife comes out wearing a burqa, almost like a nod to Burqa City. There’s also the similarity in the plot twist at the end, where we learn that the woman deliberately chose to run away from her abusive husband.”

In a statement, Laapataa Ladies writer Biplab Goswami said, “I first registered the film’s detailed synopsis, outlining the entire story with the working title Two Brides, with the Screenwriters Association (SWA) on July 3, 2014. Even within this registered synopsis, there is a scene that clearly describes the groom bringing home the wrong bride and being shocked and stricken upon realising his mistake because of the veil, along with the rest of his family. This is where the story takes off. I had also clearly written about the scene of the worried groom going to the police station and showing the only photograph he had of his missing bride to the police officer, but the bride’s face was covered with a veil, resulting in a comedic moment. On June 30, 2018, I registered the feature-length script Two Brides with the SWA. This script won the runner-up award at the Cinestaan Storytellers Competition in 2018. Again, in this screenplay, I had the scene of the policeman amused by the photograph of the veiled bride.”

He added, “Our story, characters, and dialogues are 100% original. Any allegations of plagiarism are completely untrue.”

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Biplab Goswami, who wrote the original story of Laapataa Ladies (2024), is unhappy with the plagiarism allegations levelled against his work. He took to Instagram and X on Saturday, calling the accusations untrue. Trouble started recently, when social media users pointed out similarities between the Kiran Rao-directorial and Arabic film Burqa City (2019), directed by Fabrice Bracq.

Speaking to us, Biplab rues: “I got my story registered with the Screenwriters Association (SWA) in 2014 and the full script was registered in 2018. Koi poocha bhi nahin mujhse (about the controversy). I didn’t know it was being compared with Burqa City until Saturday.”

He adds, “The Laapataa Ladies team had a chat about these allegations, everyone was concerned. As a writer, one’s credibility gets affected when something like this happens. Kharab lagta hain, aur dukh iss baat pe hota hai ki koi pooch toh leta ek baar. It’s very painful. I worked on my story for 10 years. the film’s team worked on it so much.”

This isn’t the first time Laapataa Ladies is accused of being ‘inspired’. Actor-filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan had earlier raised concerns about its resemblance to his 1999 movie, Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol. Addressing the allegation, Biplab says, “Honestly, (Laapataa Ladies) meri khud ki kahaani hai, it has no connection with any other story or novel. There is no basis to these allegations.”

Meanwhile, in an interview to IFP, Fabrice said that he wrote his short film in 2017, shot it in 2018 and presented it the following year. He claimed, “Even before watching the film (Laapataa Ladies), I was surprised by how closely the pitch matched that of my short film. Then I watched the film, and I was both surprised and shocked to see that, although the story had been adapted to Indian culture, many aspects of my short were clearly present... Of course, there’s the moment with the photo of the veiled woman.” However, in the proof shared by Biplab, the same scene existed in the story registered with the SWA in 2014.

We reached out to Fabrice for a response on the timeline of his film, but there was no response till the time of going to press.

Director Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies (2024), which was India’s official entry to the Oscars 2025, has found itself at the centre of a plagiarism controversy yet again. After being accused of copying the 1999 film, Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol, several social media users are now pointing out striking similarities between Laapataa Ladies and a 2019 Arabic film called Burqa City, after the latter’s video clips went viral recently.

Burqa City, a 19-minute satirical short film, tells the story of a newlywed man who frantically searches for his wife after she is mistakenly swapped with another woman wearing an identical burqa. The film delivers a critique of patriarchal societies and the erasure of women’s identities. Its similarity with the plot of Laapataa Ladies has not gone unnoticed by social media users.

One wrote on X, “Kiran Rao’s Lapata Ladies, India’s official entry to the Oscars and projected as an original work, actually seems heavily inspired by a 2019 short film titled Burqa City.... Kiran Rao made Lapata Ladies, with the same theme, replacing burqas with ghoonghats (sic).”

Another user wrote, “There is nothing Original about Bollywood anymore (sic).” A post read: “This is embarrassing....the creators were enjoying the success as if they had made something original (sic).” Kiran is yet to respond to the controversy.