Mumbai: Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies found itself at the centre of a plagiarism discussion after a video clip of an Arabic short film titled Burqa City went viral on social media.
Internet users have pointed out the striking similarities in plot and execution of the two films.
The 2019 Burqa City, directed by French filmmaker Fabrice Bracq, shows a newlywed man searching for his wife after mistakenly taking home another burqa-clad woman. This closely resembles the ghoonghat-clad bride mix-up, which occurs at a railway station, and the protagonist, Deepak, subsequent search for his wife, which forms the premise of Laapataa Ladies.
Another parallel occurs in a police station scene.
Laapataa Ladies was India’s official entry to the Oscars and projected as an original work based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswami. The film features Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta and Sparsh Shrivastav in the lead roles alongside Ravi Kishan, Chhaya Kadam and Geeta Aggarwal Sharma. It was released in March last year.
Check the reactions:
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.
Set in Middle East, the 19 min film follows a newlywed man whose wife gets exchanged due to identical… pic.twitter.com/b7GcHN2MmI
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) March 31, 2025
Laapataa Ladies faces plagiarism allegations for copying Arabic film Burqa City! Yet another case of Bollywood lifting ideas instead of creating original content. And we wonder why we fail at the Oscars! #Plagiarism #Bollywood #LaapataaLadies
— Céleste (@GlobeReels) April 2, 2025
Laapataa Ladies didn’t just copy the 1999 film Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol—it also plagiarized the 2019 short film Burqa City.
Did the makers of Laapataa Ladies even take permission?
And this was India’s Oscar pick? 😂 Guess the only thing laapataa here is originality https://t.co/UbyN3DG02N pic.twitter.com/vu82WA0yHD
— Lokesh Bag (@lokeshbag67) April 2, 2025
Lo Ye Bhi Copy Nikala …
“Not original! Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies is a copy of the Arabic film Burqa City? Identical scenes go viral! #KiranRao #LaapataaLadies #BurqaCity #लापतालेडीज” pic.twitter.com/UyCQkmm1cE
— Bipin Singh (@bipinsinghreal) April 2, 2025
Shocked that Amir & Kiran hid this. It’s cheating. Both must apologise to Fabrice Bracq for not acknowledging “Burqa City”. India’s Oscar entry selectors too proved blissfully unaware of world cinema. Laapataa Ladies BTW is a beautiful & relevant film. #LaapataaLadies #plagiarist https://t.co/e9t9GMaqDe
— Manas Ranjan Mishra (@fidelmanas) April 2, 2025
