Burqa City Director Reacts To Similarity With Laapataa Ladies: ‘Surprised By How It Matches My Film’

French filmmaker Fabrice Bracq, who made the 2019 Arabic short Burqa City, is calling out Laapataa Ladies for looking a little too familiar.

He’s saying Kiran Rao’s much-praised film shares more than just a vibe with his short. According to him, there are way too many similarities to ignore. Things really blew up when a viral video started making the rounds on social media, putting scenes from Burqa City and Laapataa Ladies side by side. Many started questioning if Laapataa Ladies had crossed the line into plagiarism.

Bracq reacted to the controversy by telling India Today, “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.

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.”

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 – a key narrative element in Burqa City.”

The French filmmaker concluded with, “And more broadly, the film carries a similar message about women’s emancipation and feminism.”

Meanwhile, Laapataa Ladies writer Biplab Goswami had recently issued a statement, responding to plagiarism accusations against the film. Refuting the claims, he also provided relevant documents to prove the originality of the story, characters and dialogues of Laapataa Ladies. He defended his work, and mentioned that the film’s detailed synopsis was registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2014, and that the feature-length script ‘Two Brides’ was registered in 2018.

In his statement, Laapataa Ladies writer Biplab Goswami 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. 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.”

He further added, “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.”

Biplab stated that the concepts 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 chauvinism across both Indian and global contexts. Our story, characters, and dialogues are 100% original. Any allegations of plagiarism are completely untrue,” he wrote.

He conlcuded, “These allegations not just undermine my efforts as a writer, but also the tireless efforts of the entire filmmaking team.” Biplab Goswami shared the certificate of registration by the Screenwriters’ Association, along with the post.

Laapataa Ladies was released theatrically on March 1, 2024. Kiran Rao’s directorial features Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel, and Ravi Kishan in the lead roles.