Simply put, she is a one-woman army who has revolutionised the TV-viewing habits of the entire middle class. Her saas-bahu shows have not only garnered enough eyeballs and criticism, but have generated crores for her coffers as well. Ekta Kapoor in a duologue with Sudha Ramaswamy
In conversation
Ekta Kapoor: TV producer
“No personal questions to be asked please,” says this lady at the very outset, settling down in her swivelling chair. Clad in beige trousers and a red T-shirt with her goggles pushing bac her silky hair at the forehead, Ekta Kapoor appears too lost in her wor to be weighed down by appearances.
For a person who’s all of 28, this prodigal daughter of the distinguished icon of yesteryears, Jeetendra, wears her celebrity status lightly – there’s not even a whit of starry demeanour. And she does have many feathers in her cap: The creative director and founding force behind Balaji Telefilms, who prefers to call herself the ‘Content Head’. Scoring a trump card when it comes to hogging the maximum number of eyeballs riveted to the small screen. A recipient of the prestigious Ernst and Young award in the year 2002.
She has traversed a long way, pushing through a host of odds that have stood her way since her first musical game show Dhum Dhamaka went on air around 1994. “Breaking the mindset that I was too young, for one. That I came from a well-to-do family and was inexperienced also proved to my disadvantage initially. And the long wait of six months for every show to go on air with only a two-hour slot given every day...” she trails off. Added to these was her initial enthusiasm, which too her into an over drive. So much so that before she knew it, she was incurring huge losses by the end of the first three years.
So, how’s the scene today? “Touch wood, we are doing well, thanks to the blessings of the Lord,” she smiles, reaching out to touch the feet of the Ganesha idol placed behind her des .
Doing well they certainly are, by striking a chord with the viewers, who are hooked on to her ‘family dramas’. The small screen diva has been spearheading one of the leading television software companies in the country, which has notched a figure of around Rs 183 crore in the last year and Rs 178 crore in the current year. And expects to turn around Rs 200 crore in the coming year.
It seems the intriguing ‘ ’ factor, hemmed into all of Ekta’s projects, has obviously worked wonders. Call it the key to Ekta’s destiny, as designed by her spiritual guru, Sunita Menon. “It’s because the letter ‘ ’ vibrates positively with my mesh rashi, my lucky number two and my birth number seven,” she explains.
One wonders whether Ekta subscribes to the family values depicted in her serials? “I am not representing the characters in my shows. Nor do my characters represent my values and beliefs,” is the terse answer.
Point taken. Moving on to other topics, one is forced to mention to her the similarities between her and filmmaker Karan Johar. Both young, dynamic, successful, and of course, with a fondness for the letter ‘ ’. It is also said that there’s a similarity between her kundali and that of Karan Johar’s. “Similarity? Well, nothing more other than sharing the mesh rashi and the factor,” she counters. But on a more serious note, Ekta adds, “We are known to be ‘Karmic cousins’. He’s such a warm and sensitive human being that one can’t wish Karan any harm. Of course I admire him.”
And then, as she suddenly remembers that she had forbidden any ‘personal’ questions at the beginning of the interview, she says, sternly, “I told you, no personal questions please! And just how much longer will this take?” Just long enough for her to spill the beans about the next ‘ ’ venture. She obliges, “It’s a soap fiction called Street Pali Hill, scheduled for August 2004. Come July and there’s another children’s production called Karma, which will be aired on Star Plus.”
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