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Everything About the ‘Laapataa Ladies’ Plagiarism Allegations; Film's Writer Denies All Claims
Lauded for its originality, Kiran Rao's film now faces two separate plagiarism allegations raising fresh questions about coincidence, creative overlap, and the limits of originality in storytelling.
Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies, the critically praised comedy-drama that marked her return to directing after more than a decade, is once again the subject of plagiarism allegations, this time from French director Fabrice Bracq.
The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in India on March 1, 2024, follows the story of two newlywed brides in rural India who are mistakenly swapped during a train journey.
Directed by Rao and produced by Aamir Khan Productions, the film is based on an original story by Biplab Goswami, with a screenplay and dialogues by Sneha Desai and additional dialogues by Divyanidhi Sharma. It stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam, and Ravi Kishan.
While the film was initially lauded for its sharp social commentary and warm performances— and was even selected as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards—it is now under scrutiny after two filmmakers alleged striking similarities with their previous works.
Allegation One: Ananth Mahadevan’s Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol (1999)
Veteran actor-director Ananth Mahadevan was the first to raise concerns, stating in an interview with Mid-Day that Laapataa Ladies bore “many similarities” to his 1999 telefilm Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol, which aired on India’s DD Metro and was produced for Channel 9 (Australia). The film, which has since been taken offline, features a plot in which a city-bred man inadvertently brings home the wrong bride after a mix-up at a rural railway station. The confusion is compounded by the bride wearing a veil—making her indistinguishable from another woman.
“It seems too much of a coincidence,” Mahadevan said. “The mix-up at the railway station, the photo where the woman is in a ghunghat and the man can’t identify her—these scenes are straight from my film.”
He acknowledged that while the resolution of the stories diverges — the couples in Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol eventually swap partners and remarry — the setup and several scenes in Laapataa Ladies felt familiar. “We’re all colleagues—Aamir, Kiran, and I have worked in the same industry. I was more amused than anything else, but I do believe the similarities should be addressed.”
Allegation Two: Fabrice Bracq’s Burqa City (2019)
More recently, comparisons have emerged online between Laapataa Ladies and Burqa City, a 19-minute Arabic-language short film by French director Fabrice Bracq. Released in 2019, Burqa City tells the story of a man in the Middle East whose burqa-clad bride is mistakenly swapped with another woman.
Scenes from the film began circulating on social media alongside clips from Laapataa Ladies, with users pointing out parallels, particularly a moment in both films where the male protagonist presents a veiled photograph to a police officer who is unable to identify the woman in it.
Speaking to the Indian Film Project (IFP), Bracq said he was “shocked and saddened” upon discovering the similarities. “The pitch, the characters—the kind, naive husband, the violent husband, the corrupt cop—they’re all there. Even the plot twist, where the woman chooses to escape her abusive husband, is identical,” he said.
Bracq claims Burqa City was written in 2017, shot in 2018, and screened at festivals in 2019, including two in India — Kalpanirjhar International Short Film Festival in Kolkata and the Auroville Film Festival. He expressed concern about the future of his own project. “We were in discussions to expand it into a feature film. But is that even possible now?”
The Defence: Goswami Denies All Charges
Biplab Goswami, the credited writer of Laapataa Ladies, has unequivocally denied the plagiarism allegations.
“I wrote the synopsis a decade ago,” Goswami said in a statement. “My story, script, dialogues, characterisation and scenes are all 100 percent original. I have not been inspired by any story, movie or novel. I have not watched Ananth Mahadevan ji’s movie. I was also recently asked if it’s inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s Noukadubi—it is not.”
Following Bracq’s remarks, Goswami issued another detailed statement, citing prior registrations of his script. He claims the original synopsis of Laapataa Ladies — then titled Two Brides — was registered with the Screenwriters Association (SWA) in 2014. The full feature-length version was registered in 2018 and won an award that same year at the Cinestaan Storytellers Competition, a high-profile contest judged by industry figures including Aamir Khan.
Responding to claims of narrative overlap, Goswami pointed to the long literary tradition of mistaken identity in veiled or disguised characters. “This is a trope used for centuries,” he wrote, referencing William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, itself based on the Roman play Menaechmi by Plautus, as well as Tagore’s Noukadubi.
“Our story, characters, and dialogues are 100 per cent original. Any allegations of plagiarism are completely untrue,” the statement reads. “These allegations not only undermine my efforts as a writer but also the tireless efforts of the entire filmmaking team.”
He also addressed the “veiled photo” scene in question: “The photo scene is written in the 2014 synopsis. It was not lifted from anywhere.”
Aamir Khan Productions has not yet issued a formal response. Director Kiran Rao, who has worked closely with Goswami on the project since its inception, is yet to comment.
Mistaken Identity, Artistic Imitation, and the Question of Originality
At the heart of the dispute is a broader and more philosophical question—what counts as originality in storytelling?
Goswami has cited Shakespeare and Tagore.
Plato’s theory of mimesis posits that all art is essentially imitation — copies of copies, reflections of a “true” form that can never be fully captured. In fact, Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, one of his earliest plays, was itself an adaptation of Menaechmi ( or The Brothers Menaechmus), a Latin comedy written around 210 BC by the Roman playwright Plautus. That work, which also centered on mistaken identity involving twins, is considered one of the foundational texts in Western comedic literature.
Such examples are hardly rare in global cinema and literature, where stories of mistaken identity — particularly involving veils or disguises — are near-universal. But the presence of common narrative structures does not automatically exempt filmmakers from allegations of uncredited adaptation, especially when similarities extend beyond broad tropes into specific scenes and character dynamics.
For now, the question of whether Laapataa Ladies constitutes unconscious homage, parallel thinking, or something more contentious remains unresolved.
Requests for comment from director Kiran Rao are pending.