Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao's 'Laapataa Ladies' writer denies plagiarism accusations, says 'Any allegations are...'

Biplab Goswami, who penned the story of Kiran Rao’s critically-acclaimed film “Laapataa Ladies”, on Saturday dismissed the claims that the movie’s plot has been plagiarised.

Many social media users earlier this week shared a short clip from 2019 Arabic short film “Burqa City”, noticing similarities between the stories of the two movies.

In “Burqa City”, a newlywed man sets out to find his wife after she is mistaken for another woman in a burqa.

The writer has now shared a post on Instagram denying accusations of plagiarism. He wrote- “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.”

He added, “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.”

Goswami concluded, “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.”

But now, social media users think the film is inspired by a 2019 Spanish short film Burqa City.

A user said on X- “Kiran Rao’s Lapata Ladies, India’s official entry to the Oscars and projected as an original work, actually seems heavily inspired by a 2019 short film titled Burqa City.”