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EXCLUSIVE: Birthday girl Ekta on why TV can't be radical, trolls & her reply to the 'Ekta Kapoor hate club'
Ekta Kapoor turns 43 today. The TV Mogul is the undisputed Queen on Television and has been a trailblazer with her movies and web content. Ekta in a candid interviews speaks about why she thinks Television cannot be radical and her viewpoint is sure to leave you thinking.
Television mogul Ekta Kapoor turns 43 today. The Queen of television has been a trailblazer in every sense as she ruled the hearts for over 24 years providing non-stop entertainment. The producer has slowly and steadily captivated the movie business space and web and is perhaps the only one to have successfully do so. Hate her, love her but you cannot possibly ignore her. She is everywhere.
While many people term her content 'regressive' the producer redefined her image with a Lipstick Under My Burkha and a Bose among others. In her own words, Ekta said that she doesn't want to be put in a box and typecast.
In a one of a kind candid interview (which was more like a conversation), Ekta opened up on why she cannot go radical with television while she does it unabashedly with movies. She also opened up on the recent Swedish YouTuber PewDie Pie troll controversy while reminiscing about her hate clubs since time immemorable.
In a quick tete-a-tete, when we asked Ekta about the diversity in her upcoming projects, from a Naagin 3, Dil Hi Toh Hai to a Mental Hai Kya, Veere Di Wedding, and the complete contrast in its content, Ekta stressed, "It is very simple. I can be radical in a film because I promote the film with a promo and people can choose and go to the theatre and buy. However, with television, I cannot be."
She added, "I agree television is melodramatic, at times it is very pulpy, very rarely but sometimes without denying, it is trashy, but that is also American television. If you see the whole universe, you will find this there as well. But it is never, at least for the most part of it, regressive. Regressive is a very oddly used word. Because television is probably more progressive than any film, it has stories on eunuchs, on the third gender, it has stories on female infanticides, child marriages, tell me how many films have done this? I have done television where we have had five episodes of breast cancer detection, which movie has done it? Nobody. But it is being termed regressive because it doesn't talk about lives that you identify with and it is melodramatic. No doubt about it. However, I do agree, TV is not radical."
But what makes her think that TV cannot be radical, Ekta pointed, "A radical discussion Indian television cannot have because we have one TV rooms and we are a moralistically high society. We like our families to believe that we have certain moral rules to follow. We have a family face, and are different people in front of our families."
"We speak a different type, we say different things and TV watches that type. Radical, you can't be in front of a family. And because you can't be radical, TV can't be radical and I can't be radical," she emphasized adding, "I am entering about a million homes in a day with television. I don't even know if a child is sitting in front of the TV or a grandmother, so I have to discreet in the form of entertainment I am showing. It is also because, one, people will switch off the TV and yes I am a business at the end of the day and I can't let that happen and second, it cannot be possible with 8 people sitting around, one won't feel uncomfortable if they are watching anything radical. But movies can be radical, you can make a choice that this film I want to watch with this one," she argued.
She also mentioned that people are frustrated for they are unable to put her in a box and she will continue to break the glass ceiling and be open to all sorts of content. "Just when everyone thinks I am making a Lipstick Under My Burkha, I make Naagin 3, when I make a Naagin, I will make a Bose. I don't want to get attached to any genre,' she said intently.
Being at the position she is, Ekta further went on to cite the rampant trolling on social media as a source of entertainment for her. "I realized that my morning has become much more entertaining (because of the trolls). I am a hypochondriac, every morning I wake up like I have an illness so that ruins my mood. When you are thinking of as dark things as I do, this is entertainment," Ekta laughed.
Recalling the Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie controversy, Ekta states, "PewDiePie I got pissed at because he decided to make fun of India and Indian TV and sat on the higher moral grounds. I was told that if you tweet about it, he has a huge fan following But I did not give two hoots about it. I was like at this point in time, I don't care. I was later told that every morning the backlash for me was getting bigger and bigger. I swear I felt this is so entertaining."
She reiterated, "I have seen this from the time I have been passionate about my work. When a man is passionate he is called ambitious, when a woman is passionate about her work, she is called aggressive. You cannot be passionate. It's like you are an alpha female. No one gets that concept. How can you be a go-getter, you have to be of a shy demeanour and get your work done. I don't think anyone now cares."
She even shared an incident from the time when Orkut was a thing. Uncertain if we are aware of Orkut, she recalled, "When I had first come on Orkut, I remember asking what is Orkut and was told it is a new social media thing. I remember I was told that there are this huge fan pages and then I found out the first Indian community page was I hate Aishwarya Rai club and then it was I hate Ekta Kapoor club. I was damn happy because the biggest community was with me and Aishwarya Rai."
"I then later left a comment on their wall. I said, 'Love me, hate me but just don't ignore me, lots of love to my haters, Ekta. I had so much fun'," she said flashing her childlike smile as she signed off.
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