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Indian Women Empowering By Ekta Kapoor |
EKTA KAPOOR - creative director, Balaji Telefilms
Ekta Kapoor is a rising star of India's television industry. At 31, she has produced more than 20 soaps on 10 major Indian television networks and created a comedy series that ran for five years.
Daughter of Jeetendra Kapoor, a hero of Hindi cinema, Kapoor began producing soap operas at the age of 19. Her first production, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Because A Mother-in-law Was Once A Daughter-in-law Too), was not only a blockbuster, but also kicked off a new era in Hindi television entertainment.
Kapoor's productions are seeped in melodrama where the good are pitted against the bad, the bad against the ugly, over several weeks of agonising entertainment. Controversially, Kapoor upholds many stereotypes of Indian women, portraying them as subservient, suffering, traditional and religious.
Hence, her soaps are often accused of being regressive.
Nevertheless, Kapoor is a trendsetter. She has toyed with the big screen, but has always returned to television. And unlike many film-makers who focus on mainstream Hindi entertainment, there is a strong regional flavour to her wor . Recent programmes include a foray into Bhojpuri - a dialect of Hindi, spoken in some of the north-eastern states of India.
Kapoor's success and vision have attracted foreign investors. Asian Broadcasting FZ-LLC (ABF), an affiliate of Rupert Murdoch's Star Group, owns a 26% stake in the company.
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Indian Womens Motivates Along Ekta Kapoor |
Today’s women are not just a showpiece lying in the house. Today a woman moves hand in hand with the men and in some cases has also left men behind. Till some years bac a woman was supposed to handle daily chores and found place only in the kitchen of the house. But today the scenario has changed; today a woman is not just subject to the four walls of a house, she is out into the world and ready to give the men a run for their money. Whether in the field of business, media or even sports woman is leaving a mar in every field. Sania Mirza has risen as one of India’s biggest sport star. The 19-year-old recorded many firsts by an Indian in women's tennis while proving herself to be a genuine world beater. A leap of 175 places to reach a career high 31 in world rankings, a seniors' title, victory over two top-10 players and reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam - a spectacular start to what should be a long and colourful career. It was the first time an Indian woman had gone thus far at a Grand Slam and she bettered that mar at the US Open, going one step further later in the year. She made the whole nation proud with her achievements but with fame came public scrutiny. An Islamic cleric issued a fatwa banning her from wearing short skirts on courts. Her comments on safe sex resulted in public activist groups burning her effigies and demonstrating in front of her house in Hyderabad. That is the plight of any Indian women who has tried to establish her identity in a men’s world. Besides her we also have women like Barkha Dutt who managed to do a courageous reportage of the Kargil war and also women like Ekta Kapoor who has the whole nation drooling over her daily dose soaps. How much ever people may criticize her wor but she has emerged as a true winner. One key factor that differentiates these successful women from the rest of the lot is the fact that they had the determination to dream and also the confidence to make them come true. Contrary to popular norms are these savvy czarinas who have taken over the reins form their fathers. Destroying long standing traditions, breaking into another male-dominated bastion, they are packing in a quite a punch! Groomed to lead corporate houses into the twentieth century, daddy’s little girls are proving as savvy, diplomatic and as worthy of their financial salt as their male counterparts. Taking over from the likes of Brinda Khatau and Zeenia Lawyer, these daughters of business magnates are out to prove their mettle. Articles, reportages, literary works and masterpieces of art have been dedicated to the mission of asserting the woman’s position in a man’s world. A lot has been said and done to equate their stature and role, but this is not about that, as we are already in an era where this fact is an established statement. This is an endeavour to probe into the rationale behind the various facets of the contemporary woman, who on one side, is a jet setting, successful business entity, and a devoted mother and loving wife, on the other.
Till ten years ago women executives were few and far between but today women constitute a major percentage in the entity of any corporate organization. Today a woman has managed to prove to the world that she is much more than an ever caring and sacrificing mother. She has managed to convince the world about her capabilities and talent. The complain that most of the corporate women today have is although they are complete workaholics and are earning bucks it really doesn’t matter to them anymore cause they do not have the time to spend it. Besides that money has never defined their goals or identity. In fact they consider themselves as just a bunch of people who find their meaning in wor . Recently Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, Chanda Kochar, executive director of ICICI Ban and Vidya Chhabria, Chairman of Jumbo Group recently secured a place in the Fortune magazine's list of the world's most powerful women in business. If this piece of news made every indian woman happy, another survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) painted a very different picture of Indian women in the corporate world. Even today women constitute only six per cent of the total workforce, says the survey conducted by CII, which was released by Anu Aga, Director of Thermax Ltd. The survey, which covers 149 companies, focused on medium and large companies. While the number of women at the junior level is a healthy 16 per cent, this tapered down to a mere four per cent at the middle and senior levels. This ratio declines in the senior management positions, coming down to almost universal levels of male leadership in the topmost positions. Basically the three factors that are the cause of a low percentage of women in the corporate world are gender bias in recruitment, gender inequality and sexual harassment at the workplace. Though it's not explicitly exhibited, there is some kind of gender bias in many organisations. These mainly related to those regarding promotions, allotment of assignments - where men are preferred. For instance, women are not preferred in some functions, such as manufacturing/ production etc. And the main reasons behind this being security concerns for women and perceptions that women would 'not be competent enough' for these positions. |
Views of Indian womens For Ekta Kapoor
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What makes Ekta Kapoor tic ?
Ekta Kapoor is a very smart woman with a definite agenda. It could even have political dimensions - don't we know the connection of media and politics?!
She knows the Indian middle class is detached, insensitive and likes to prey on the traumas of others. It gives people a high to see others going through abject misery (especially those who are economically well off) and enjoy seeing them tortured because they're born with a silver spoon in their mouths! Ekta kapoor is feeding this demonic desire within us. She belongs to the fundamentalist brigade that is hell bent on punishing women with independent views. So they're raped or they're shown as conniving negative characters only wanting to destroy family values. Her serials began with a lot of relevance but have succumbed to age old filmi 'formulas'. I've heard many of my aunts, cousins, friends, colleagues who're avid watchers question whether Ekta Kapoor believes her audience to be fools or immature.
I dont thin Ekta Kapoor ticks. She's taken the pin off a bomb that's going to blow her face off. She needs to be very careful.
A ticking - bomb of a brain!
Mahua | 2002-08-17 |
For someone who was brought up with the knowledge that her father danced in public for a living in white trousers and white shoes, Ekta Kapoor has come a long way.
aisehi | 2002-08-19
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I would say Ekta Kapoor, is one of the best marketer, of present times. With a clearly defined USP, she really knows what would clic , with the masses. Great Guns !!
amit parakh | 2002-08-20
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Some of her stories like "Kahin Kissi Roz" and "Kasauti Zindagi Ki" are very interesting. Also, Kutumb, which has been given a new angle. However, I thin she has improved the expectations of the viewers and the best part is to compete with her, everone, would be giving very good quality of serials, thereby only benefiting the viewers.
Rima Kapoor | 2002-08-22 |
| I loo it out as an enjoyment trip and not something which would define my values.
As far as morality and other stuff is concerned, I guess you get what you deserve. And to me the serial is much better than HBO and Star Movies crap.
amit parakh | 2002-08-29 |
Ekta Kapoor follows the genre of the Gree Tragedy, wherein the tragedy on-stage is greater than the tragedy in the lives of the viewers. The end result being a "feel-good" factor in the minds of the viewers. One gets the feeling that we are not suffering so much after all. Obviously this is working well with the captive audience that she has managed to garner for the serials that she makes.
AS | 2002-08-29 |
Ekta Kapoor is doing society a great dis-service by running her pathetic shows. Those 'goody-goody' women tripping on religion make me want to throw up - in one of her serials the bahu is laughed at when she eats before her husband (how's that for being progressive). Her perceptivvere mind or marketing skills don't mean anything because she is still producing min.
Kabir Kashyap | 2002-09-04 |
The Indian woman has had to do a lot to reach where she has in the industrial, academic and businees world. And to show things like "bahus being shouted at for eating in front of their husbands ###DOUBLE##. If she really cares so much about the middle class indian values, why doesnt she portray the new indian women of the middle class who are hungry for jobs in IT, BT, who wor in MNC's , who have academic and intelluectual interestes , who are independant,who can travel on thier own, who can earn their own living . undoubtedly , there are many those women who may not have the opportunity to be exposed to such concepts. however, If etka kapoor actually portrayed these concepts, if she really cared about the progression of indian women, she would inspire them to use their mind and brian to be independant and not to waste their neuron activity on kitty parties and jewellery all the time. further, she is undoing eveything that women activists have been working towards for the past so many decades. her portrayal of the middle class family is totally unrealistic. all she cares about is making it big for herself in the TV industry , irrespective of the message which she is sending out. she is a complete disgrace to the indian woman in that she has made in her millions by preying on the minds of indian house wives and corrupting their thoughts. Further, I would like to appeal to the Indian public itself ! Shows will run as long as their ratings remain high . Asking any TV networ to stop a serial will not solve the problem. As long as people watch the crap that she churns out, it will continue to show. And hence some one should really do something about this nonsense ! How can the Indian public be so HYPOCRITICAL as to go to the movies to see the likes of mallika sharawat and bipasha basu etc in skimpily clad clothes on the one hand , and on the other hand watch shows like these which are meant to preserve indian culture. Its for us to decide what we want our nation to watch .
paolomi | 2006-06-22 |
| Ekta is great story writer and her powerful imagination is actually not only admired by Asians even people from u &america. she is also showing that in 2day's world this is wat is happening which is true, i don't thin that she is destroying any values its juss fiction as the same way u see american films or dramas.keep up the great wor ekta.
rudorwashe | 2006-09-11 |
Could anyone ever have imagined that our inane television serials would be educative? Well, certainly not those who called television soaps serial killers, convinced that all they had to offer were decadent moral values. Or those who felt that they were turning Indians into idiots because of their sheer stupidity and their inability to tal about serious social issues. Er…I too had similar opinions.
Not any more. These shows may not tal about serious social issues, but they are tackling serious social issues!!
A recent study of 2,700 households (in villages in the four states - Bihar, Goa, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu - and Delhi) from 2001 to 2003, by Robert Jensen of Brown University and Emily Oster of the University of Chicago shows that television is actually helping rural Indian women come out of their shell. Their attitudes seemingly underwent a change, even to an extent that women’s preference for male children fell slightly! And the authors’ “composite autonomy index jumped substantially, by an amount equivalent to the attitude difference associated with 5.5 years of additional education.”
How? Surely, television soaps show regressive values? They mostly show women crying and suffering in a patriarchal set-up. The fact that they often they grin and bear it is a matter of concern. But that’s exactly it. Rural women had no idea that these things were to be ‘borne.’ For them oppression is so normal that they feel it’s deserved!
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