In the recent series of events, it was learnt that Kiran Rao’s latest and celebrated film Laapataa Ladies is copied from a 1999-released film Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol helmed by veteran writer-director Ananth Mahadevan. In an exclusive chat with The Free Press Journal, Ananth shares his thoughts on the same. He also tells that how the idea of mixup brides came to him.
Laapataa Ladies |
Filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan shares, “Similarities with regular tropes aren’t uncommon but I was amused by the fact that the concept of brides in Ghunghat and getting mixed up at a railway station/compartment wasn’t so commonplace an element in films. Of course, a lot of people would liken it to Tagore’s classic Naukadoobi on which Ramanand Sagar’s Ghunghat was based but that was a different situation altogether.”
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Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol |
“When Laapataa Ladies came up, I thought it was too much of a coincidence. Although, once the brides are lost and the mix up is realised, both the films adopt different trajectories. But the characteristics of one coy bride and the other, a fearless/enterprising one look familiar too,” he adds
He further states, “As does the photograph where the bride is in her veil hence the difficulty in identifying her. Now I am a fan of Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat and respect her sensibilities. So it may be highly unlikely that she knew of the similarities. The origins could be at the conceptual stage, which they state happened three years ago.”
Veteran writer-director Ananth Mahadevan |
Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol was then available on YouTube had originally premiered in 1999 as a production by Australia’s Channel 4 for DD Metro.
“A lot of people feel it was inappropriate for me to bring up the topic now, but I could do it only after getting a chance to watch Laapataa Ladies on a digital platform. I am not here to prove whether it was knowingly done or inadvertently. I had decided to make my film 25 years ago based on a true incident narrated to me by late veteran actor Satyen Kappu, who reflected on the time he got married and almost lost his wife who was in a ghunghat to a bus stand porter,” he signs off.
