Ananth Mahadevan: Mix-up in train and station straight from my film

Itrsquos said that there are seven plots in the world from which countless stories are born Many stories share the same genesis then But Ananth Mahadevan is surprised to see the striking similarities between Laapataa Ladies and his first feature film Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol 1999 ldquoIt seems too much of a coincidencerdquo he laughsAamir Khan and Kiran RaoKiran Raorsquos acclaimed film revolves around two new brides who are mistakenly swapped in a train owing to their veiled faces Mahadevan says his filmmdashstarring Joy Sengupta Vishal Varma Neha Pendse and Sucheta Khannamdashhas the same plot point ldquoI have seen Laapataa Ladies and the beginning as well as many incidents are the same In our film a boy from the city goes to his village to get married The mixup happens at the railway station when he asks his new bride who is in a ghunghat to wait on a bench while he goes looking for some information When he returns he joins the wrong briderdquo The story then follows the two women as they correct the mixup only to realise that they have feelings for the otherrsquos partner So the four characters annul their original marriage swap their partners again and get marriedAnanth Mahadevan right Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol premiegravered on DD Metro in 1999Itrsquos evident that Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol and Laapataa Ladies tell different stories With the Nitanshi Goel Pratibha Ranta Sparsh Shrivastava and Ravi Kishanstarrer Rao weaves a tale of women empowerment But Mahadevan points out another aspect He says ldquoThe scene where the cop looks at the womanrsquos photograph and canrsquot make out much because she is in a ghunghat is there in my film Except in my film itrsquos not a cop but another characterrdquoLaapata Ladies director Rao with writer Biplab GoswamiHe is also puzzled that Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol which was available on YouTube until a few months ago is no longer on the videostreaming app ldquoI donrsquot have any proof if Laapataa Ladiesrsquo writer has seen my film on YouTube When I searched for my movie on YouTube it had disappeared and thatrsquos when I realised that it was pulled down I didnrsquot reach out to Aamir Khan producer or Kiran because they will only point out the differences But the premise situations and a lot of scenes are similar The mixup in the train and railway station and the ghunghatwala photo are straight from my film Irsquoll treat it as flattery more than anything elserdquo he laughsLaapataa Ladiesrsquo story is written by Biplab Goswami with Sneha Desai credited for screenplay and dialogues and Divyanidhi Sharma for additional dialogues Goswami tells midday that he had submitted the script at the Cinestaan Indiarsquos Storytellers Contest in 2018 ldquoI received the first runnerup award for it I wrote the synopsis a decade ago My story script dialogues characterisation and scenes are all 100 per cent original I have not been inspired by any story movie or novel I have not watched Ananth Mahadevan jirsquos movie I was also recently asked if itrsquos inspired by Rabindranath Tagorersquos Bengali novel Noukadubi A 60yearold producer called me much before the filmrsquos release to tell me that a similar episode happened with his mother when she was a bride I studied about gender discrimination inequality in villages and male chauvinism when I was a student at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata I wonrsquot copy somebody elsersquos story as we are taught the basic ethics and moralities of writingrdquo midday also reached out to Rao who didnrsquot respond till press time