Ananth Mahadevan takes a dig at Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies winning IIFA awards: ‘A rose is a rose by any name’

Ananth Mahadevan had previously claimed that Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies was a copy of his 1999 film Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol.

Kiran Rao’s heartwarming 2024 film Laapataa Ladies swept clean the IIFA Awards in numerous categories this year. Filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan took a dig at the wins, bringing in his 1999 film Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol once again. Here’s what he said. (Also Read: Pratibha Ranta on career after Laapataa Ladies: ‘Now, I am aiming for something big with every project’)

A still from the Kiran Rao-directorial Laapataa Ladies.

Ananth Mahadevan’s dig at Laapataa Ladies’ wins

Ananth shared a poster of his film Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol on Facebook, indirectly mentioning how the film ‘won awards’ at IIFA recently, including Best Original Story. He wrote, “GHUNGHAT KE PAT KHOL just made a clean sweep of something called IIFA awards.. including BEST ORIGINAL STORY!! Of course with another title.. but then a rose is a rose by any name!”

What’s more, he also posted a YouTube video of the accidental bride swapping that takes place at a railway station. When a fan alleged that Aamir Khan’s production house, Aamir Khan Productions, pulled down all copies of the film on YouTube and another fan asked where they could watch the film, he replied with the link of the video and wrote, “Only 1 hour available.”

This is not the first time Ananth has called out the makers of Laapataa Ladies, alleging similarities between both films. In May last year, the filmmaker told Mid-Day, “It seems too much of a coincidence. I have seen Laapataa Ladies, and the beginning as well as many incidents are the same,” mentioning numerous scenes from the film that he thought were similar.

About Laapataa Ladies

Laapataa Ladies, released internationally as Lost Ladies, stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan. It tells the story of two brides who are swapped accidentally on a train.

First screened at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival in 2023, the film was controversially selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards over Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light. However, the film did not secure a nomination.