Laapataa Ladies Faces Plagiarism Allegations Over Similarities With Burqa City
Mumbai, 2nd April 2025: Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies, India’s official entry to the Oscars 2025, has come under scrutiny after being accused of plagiarism. The film, released on March 1, 2024, has been compared to Fabrice Bracq’s 2019 Arabic short film Burqa City. Social media users have pointed out striking similarities between the two films, sparking a heated debate about originality in Bollywood.
Burqa City is a satirical short film set in the Middle East. It follows a newlywed man who mistakenly brings home the wrong woman due to identical burqas. The film critiques patriarchal norms and explores themes of identity and societal restrictions.
In Laapataa Ladies, a similar mix-up occurs when two brides in rural India are swapped due to their veils (ghunghats) during a train journey. Netizens highlighted scenes such as a police officer laughing at the protagonist’s attempt to identify his veiled wife, which mirrors a moment in Burqa City. One user commented, “Nothing that Bollywood produces seems to be an original work of art.”
Adding to the controversy, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok also supported the allegations when asked by a user. It stated that both films share notable plot parallels, fueling speculation about plagiarism. However, no official response has been made by Kiran Rao or her team.
This is not the first time Laapataa Ladies has faced such allegations. Last year, filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan claimed that the film’s premise was copied from his 1999 telefilm Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol. Despite these accusations, Laapataa Ladies received critical acclaim and dominated the IIFA Awards 2025 with ten wins, including Best Performance for Nitanshi Goel.
The film was produced by Aamir Khan Productions, Kindling Pictures, and Jio Studios and features Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastav, and Ravi Kishan in lead roles. While fans continue to debate its originality, others have praised its music, particularly Arijit Singh’s song “Sajni Re.”
As the controversy unfolds, questions about intellectual property and creative integrity in Indian cinema remain at the forefront. Whether these allegations will impact Laapataa Ladies’ legacy is yet to be seen.
