Laapataa Ladies, directed by Kiran Rao and produced by Aamir Khan, has recently found itself at the centre of a plagiarism controversy. Fabrice Bracq, the director of the 2019 Arabic short film Burqa City, has spoken out about the striking similarities between his work and the Indian movie, expressing both surprise and shock. India’s official entry to the Oscars 2025, Laapataa Ladies has been widely praised, but these allegations have sparked heated debates online. Here’s everything you need to know about the controversy.
Burqa City director BREAKS SILENCE on Laapataa Ladies similarities: “Many aspects of my short film were clearly present”
Fabrice Bracq Highlights Key Similarities Between Burqa City and Laapataa Ladies
In an interview with IFP, Fabrice Bracq detailed the parallels he observed between Burqa City and Laapataa Ladies. The French filmmaker pointed out that both films share similar character archetypes and pivotal scenes. According to Bracq, the “kind, loving, naive husband” and the “violent, despicable husband” in Laapataa Ladies mirror characters in his short film. Additionally, he noted that scenes involving a corrupt police officer and his sidekicks, as well as a moment where a husband searches for his veiled wife using a photograph, closely resemble sequences in Burqa City.
“Of course, there is the moment with the photo of the veiled woman where the kind husband searches for his wife in various shops. He shows the shopkeepers a photo of his veiled wife, just like in the short film,” Bracq explained. He also highlighted a scene where a shopkeeper’s wife emerges in a burqa, calling it “almost like a nod to Burqa City.” These similarities have left Bracq questioning the originality of Kiran Rao’s film.
Fabrice Bracq’s Reaction: From Unawareness to Disappointment
Bracq admitted that he was unaware of Laapataa Ladies until the similarities were brought to his attention. “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,” he told IFP. He also stated that he has not yet seen Rabindranath Tagore’s Noukadubi, Rituparno Ghosh’s adaptation of the same name, or Ananth Mahadevan’s Ghunghat ke Pat Khol—works also speculated to have inspired Rao’s film.
Previously, writer Biplab Goswami, who co-wrote the film with Sneha Desai, dismissed the claims. Goswami asserted that the screenplay was an original work, registered with the Screenwriters Association as Two Brides in 2014—five years before Burqa City’s release. However, the Burqa City controversy has reignited scrutiny, with critics questioning whether the film’s premise was truly unique.
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