New Delhi: Fabrice Bracq, director of “Burqa City“, says he was surprised by “how closely the pitch” of “Laapataa Ladies” matched that of his 2019 Arabic short film.
Many social media users earlier this week shared a short clip from “Burqa City“, pointing out similarities between the stories of the two movies.
Biplab Goswami, who penned the story of Kiran Rao’s “Laapataa Ladies“, Saturday dismissed the claims that the movie’s plot was plagiarised. The feature film, which was released in 2024, was India’s official entry to the Academy Awards 2025.
Bracq said he didn’t know about the existence of “Laapataa Ladies” until April 3 (Thursday).
“When I found out, I was both shocked and saddened, especially since I understood that the film has been a huge success in India and was even shortlisted for the Oscars. As for me, I had hopes and was in discussions to adapt Burqa City into a feature film. But is that even possible now?” the filmmaker said in an interview with IFP, which was published hours before Goswami broke his silence about the controversy.
“First of all, even before watching the film, 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,” he added.
He said he would also want to have a discussion with the production team of “Laapataa Ladies“, which was backed by Aamir Khan Productions, Rao’s Kindling Pictures, and Jyoti Deshpande of Jio Studios.
In “Burqa City“, a newlywed man sets out to find his wife after she is mistaken for another woman in a burqa.
Similarly, “Laapataa Ladies” follows Deepak as he searches for his new bride, who is accidentally swapped with another ghoonghat-clad woman on a train.
According to Bracq, “Burqa City” was written in 2017, shot in February 2018, and was presented at festivals around the world in 2019.
The writer-director said that from several plot points, scenes to the plot twist towards the end, there is “an exhaustive list” of similarities between the two films.
“And more broadly, the film carries a similar message about women’s emancipation and feminism,” he added.
In a statement, posted on his official Instagram page, Goswami said the allegations were completely “untrue”.
The writer said he first registered the detailed synopsis of “Laapataa Ladies“, outlining the entire story with the working title ‘Two Brides’, with the Screenwriters Association (SWA) July 3, 2014.
“On June 30, 2018, I registered the full-length script ‘Two Brides’ with the SWA… Our story, characters, and dialogues are 100 per cent 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,” he wrote.
PTI
