India’s Oscar entry, Laapata Ladies directed by Kiran Rao is coming under fire for being copied from an Arabic film titled The Burqa City. Ever since netizens found the short film, they have been drawing comparisons between the two.
Original story, says Laapata Ladies writer
Responding to the plagiarism allegations, Laapata Ladies’ writer Biplab Goswami shared a statement on Instagram and called it a “100% original” film. He said that he registered the synopsis of Laapataa Ladies with the Screenwriters Association back in 2014, before the Arabic film was even made.
He wrote, “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,” he added.
Is Kiran Rao’s film Laapata Ladies based on a real story?
Biplab insists in his statement on social media that the film’s script was with the Screenwriters Association in 2018 and that it went on to win the runner-up award at the Cinestaan Storytellers Competition.
On people drawing comparisons between the two films similarity on the female protagonists staying covered under a veil, he said, “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.”
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Laapata Ladies cast
Laapata Ladies’ director Kiran Rao reshared his statement on her Instagram stories.
Laapata Ladies features Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel and Sparsh Shrivastava in lead roles.