Filmmaker-actor Ananth Mahadevan’s satirical drama Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol is set to debut on the streaming platform ShemarooMe in January 2025. The 1999 film, which delves into social issues like patriarchy and female agency, starred Neha Pendse, Joy Sengupta, and Hemant Pandey.
Mahadevan took to social media on Monday to make the announcement. He shared an old poster of the film and wrote, “The wait is over… GHUNGHAT KE PAT KHOL my very first feature ( Channel 9 Australia/DD Metro) will be on SHEMAROOme in January.”
Earlier this year, Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol made headlines when Mahadevan accused Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies of borrowing its premise. The similarities, according to Mahadevan, lie in the central theme—a mix-up involving two veiled brides at a railway station.
“My very first full length feature GHOONGHAT KE PAT KHOL was for Channel9 Gold, the Australian producer who opened shop in India in 1999. It was a delightful story of two brides in the traditional Ghunghat getting mixed up in a train and finding themselves in Bombay with the wrong husband. The search for the right man and wife ends in a twist that challenges tradition and redefines the institution of marriage. The late Hrishikesh Mukherjee loved it so much, he saw it twice! Amused and humbled to find that it has inspired a similar film this year😉,” Mahadevan had posted on Instagram.
In Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol, the confusion arises when two newlywed women, dressed identically and wearing veils, are mistakenly taken to the wrong homes, sparking chaos and highlighting societal flaws.
Set in 2001 rural India, Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies is a satirical take on patriarchy in rural India. The film stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Ravi Kishan, Chhaya Kadam and Geeta Aggarwal Sharma in key roles.
Based on a story by Biplab Goswami, with a screenplay and dialogues by Sneha Desai and additional dialogues by Divyanidhi Sharma, Laapataa Ladies follows two brides, Phool and Jaya, who are mistakenly swapped during a train journey.
Produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, and Jyoti Deshpande under the banners of Aamir Khan Productions, Kindling Pictures, and Jio Studios, Laapataa Ladies debuted in theaters on March 1, followed by a release on Netflix India. It has been selected as India’s official entry for best international feature at the 97th Oscars.
