Is Laapataa Ladies a Copy of Burqa City? Plagiarism Allegations Raise The Question: How Much 'Inspiration' Is Too Much?

Hyderabad: When Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies was selected as India's official entry for the Oscars 2025, it was celebrated as a big achievement for women in Indian cinema. India pinned its hopes on the film that explores women's identities, patriarchy, and societal norms with a touch of humour. But Laapataa Ladies fell short at the Oscars. And now it is overshadowed by a questionable allegation: plagiarism. What began as praise for its storytelling has turned into an online controversy, the legacy of the film now under threat of being discredited by these accusations.

Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies has been accused of copying the Arabic film Burqa City. Netizens believe that the movie's main idea is taken from the 2019 French-Arabic short film Burqa City. The short film is about a man who accidentally brings home the wrong woman in a burqa after an argument with his wife. The police station scene in Laapataa Ladies, where Ravi Kishan stands out, is also said to be closely inspired by a similar scene in Burqa City.

The common themes of patriarchy, social pressure, and the probing of women's roles in a patriarchal society are strikingly similar between the two films.

Critics contend that with resources at her disposal, Kiran Rao could have steered clear of borrowing so extensively from other material. While a section of social media observe that themes such as mistaken identity and bride swaps are prevalent in Indian culture and literature. They contend that there is a long tradition of mistaken bride swap tales. One can trace them back to novels such as Rabindranath Tagore's Naukadubi or the early 2000s' K-serials, which typically used to have such twists in the tale. However, a large section of social media believes the similarities between Laapataa Ladies and Burqa City are too glaring to be dismissed as a coincidence.

Interestingly, in the age of the internet, social media can make such accusations ring out louder than ever before. What was once a hushed word among industry professionals is now an open public debate.

The debate surrounding Laapataa Ladies is not in itself unusual. It's part of a larger trend of plagiarism allegations in Bollywood. The industry is often criticised for its overdependence on remakes, adaptations, and taking "inspiration" from south and foreign movies.

Earlier, movies as Barfi! (2012), which was India's 2013 Oscar entry, was charged with taking things from world classics such as City Lights and The Notebook. Gully Boy, India's another official entry to the Oscars in 2019 was accused of looking too much like the 2002 movie 8 Mile.

With Laapataa Ladies stirring an online storm, the fundamental question rises again: How much 'inspiration' is too much? When exactly does influence slip into plagiarism?

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2. Exclusive Interview With Laapataa Ladies Writer Biplab Goswami: 10 Years, 4,000 Scripts, And Race To The Oscars
3. Laapataa Ladies Writer Sneha Desai on Film Federation's Controversial Oscar Citation: 'They Could've Been More Cautious'