Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 5 : 'Laapataa Ladies' writer Biplab Goswami on Saturday issued a statement, denying claims that the movie's plot has been plagiarised.
Lately, a section of social media users pointed out that the hit Hindi film, produced by Aamir Khan and directed by Kiran Rao, had similarities to an Arabic-language short film titled Burqa City.
Reacting to plagiarism allegations, Biplab, who co-authored the film with Sneha Desai, mentioned that first detailed synopsis for the movie was submitted in 2014 with the working title 'Two Brides'. He also provided the 'relevant documents' to support his stance.
"The screenplay for Laapataa Ladies was developed extensively over many years," he wrote in his note.
Biplab added, "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. 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."
"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," he said.
Have a look at his post
https://www.instagram.com/p/DID_i46zUrs/?img_index=2
The film, which was released in March 2024, also Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Ravi Kishan in key roles.