Laapataa Ladies directed by Kiran Rao, produce by Aamir Khan became one of the hit films on OTT in 2024. This film was sent for Oscar nominations also, but unfortunately the film got rejected. The story and acting of character were so natural that the film got many nominations and lots of love from audience for originality. However, the few days back some social media users found similarity and said that film is copy of Fabrice Bracq directed film 'Burqa City' which started doing rounds of film festival in 2019 a year after Biplab’s script ‘Two Brides’ was locked. Fabrice meanwhile claimed that he wrote his short film in 2017, shot in 2018 and presented in 2019. Laapataa Ladies story writer Biplab Goswami denied the claims of plagarism allegations by sharing a post on Instagram and X on Saturday.
In an interview with Hindustan times Biplab said that, "Nobody bothered to get his version too, I had got my story registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2014. I have proof, then the full script was registered in 2018. Koi poocha bhi nahi mujhse. I didn’t know comparisons are being made with Burqa City until Saturday. Our Laapataa Ladies team had a chat about these allegations, sab soch rahe the arre yeh kya ho raha hai, everyone was stressed. As a writer, one’s credibility gets affected when something of this sort happens. Kharab lagta hai, aur dukh iss baat pe hota hai ki koi pooch toh leta ek baar. I worked on my story for 10 years. the film’s team worked on it so much. Koi aisa kuchh aake bol deta hai aur sabko lagta hai sahi hai, hawa ka rukh badal jaata hai. It’s very painful.”
Laapataa Ladies has faced accusations of being 'inspired' before, with actor-filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan noting similarities to his 1999 film Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol. Director Biplab Krishan responds, stating the film is based on his own original story, unconnected to any other work, including Mahadevan's. He claims the allegations are baseless and wishes he'd been asked for his perspective sooner.
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What Fabrice Said?
In an IFP interview, Fabrice stated he was surprised even before viewing the film by its striking similarity to his short film's pitch. After watching, he was shocked to find numerous elements present, adapted to Indian culture. He cited key parallels, including: a kind, naive husband contrasted with a violent one; a scene featuring a corrupt policeman with two accomplices; and a moment involving a veiled woman's photograph. Biplab's evidence indicated the same scene existed in the story registered with the SWA in 2014.
Biplab Goswami's Official Statement On X and Instagram
The screenplay for Laapataa Ladies was developed extensively over many years. I first registered the film's detailed synopsis, outlining the entire story with the working title Two Brides', with the Screenwriters Association 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. ! 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 sereenplay. I had the scene of the policeman amused by the photograph of the veiled bride. The concept of veils and disguises resulting in mistaken identities is a classical form of storytelling used for centuries by writers such as William Shakespeare, Alexandre Dumas and Rabindranath Tagore, among many others. Laapataa Ladies uses this mistaken identity form with entirely original and unique characters, setting, narrative journey, and social impact. The story, the dialogues, the characters, and the scenes-all stem from years of research and honest reflection. I was deeply invested in understanding the nuances of gender discrimination and inequality, rural power dynamics, and male chauvinisa across both Indian and global contexts. Our story, characters, and dialogues are 100% original. Any allegations of plagiarism are completely untrue. These allegations not just undermine my efforts as a writer, but also the tireless efforts of the entire filmmaking team.