Biplab Goswami, who is credited for the story of Laapataa Ladies (2024), is unhappy with the plagiarism allegations levelled against his work. He took to Instagram and X on Saturday, sharing his statement, calling everything untrue.
Social media users found similarity between the Kiran Rao-directorial and Burqa City directed by Fabrice Bracq, which started doing the rounds of film festivals in 2019, a year after Biplab’s script ‘Two Brides’ was locked. Fabrice meanwhile claimed that he wrote his short film in 2017, shot in 2018 and presented in 2019.
Speaking to HT City, he confesses that nobody bothered to get his version too, “I had got my story registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2014. I have proof, then the full script was registered in 2018. Koi poocha bhi nahi mujhse. I didn’t know comparisons are being made with Burqa City until Saturday.”
Social media users found similarity between the Kiran Rao-directorial and Burqa City directed by Fabrice Bracq, which started doing the rounds of film festivals in 2019, a year after Biplab’s script was locked. Fabrice meanwhile spoke to IFP and claimed that he wrote his short film in 2017, shot in 2018 and presented in 2019.
Biplab adds, “Our Laapataa Ladies team had a chat about these allegations, sab soch rahe the arre yeh kya ho raha hai, everyone was stressed. As a writer, one’s credibility gets affected when something of this sort happens. Kharab lagta hai, aur dukh iss baat pe hota hai ki koi pooch toh leta ek baar. I worked on my story for 10 years. the film’s team worked on it so much. Koi aisa kuchh aake bol deta hai aur sabko lagta hai sahi hai, hawa ka rukh badal jaata hai. It’s very painful.”
This isn’t the first time that someone has accused Laapataa Ladies of being ‘inspired’. Actor-filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan had earlier raised concerns about the striking resemblance to his 1999 movie Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol. Biplab addresses them too, “I know about this a bit. Honestly, meri khud ki kahaani hai, it has no connection with any other story or novel. Ananth ji ke saath koi lena dena nahi hai. When this too had broken out, I wanted someone to ask me too. There is no basis to these allegations.”
We reached out to Fabrice for a response on the differing timelines, but there was no response till the time of going to press.
WHAT FABRICE SAID
In his interview to IFP, Fabrice claimed, “First of all, even before watching the film, I was surprised by how closely the pitch matched that of my short film. Then I watched the film, and 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. Notably and this is by no means an exhaustive list – the kind, loving, naive husband who loses his wife, contrasted with the other husband who is violent and despicable. The scene with the police officer is also striking: a corrupt, violent, and intimidating policeman surrounded by two sidekicks. Of course, there’s the moment with the photo of the veiled woman.” In the proof shared by Biplab, the same scene existed in the story registered with the SWA in 2014.
