Dinesh Kamath's old article on Ekta Kapoor that was published in Newsband

Ekta Kapoor isn't too happy about the way her upcoming project Ragini MMS is shaping up. Several scenes of the film will reportedly be re-shot. Director Pawan Kripalani says that Ekta, in fact, loved the rushes. According to him, the first cut of the film was very long, and they were going to cut it down to 90 minutes. While Ekta didn't say anything about the first cut being too long, she claimed that only two scenes needed to be re-done. The film is expected to release on May 13.
Ekta is threading with caution when it comes to Balaji's RAGINI MMS based on the true story that promises to have audiences shocked out of their socks. More details on Ekta's new pet controversial project are emerging on the scene. Pandits have advised the television baroness to keep the identity of the real Ragini under wraps till a more auspicious date. Not too long ago, the cast and crew of RAGINI MMS were left shaken after freak incidents took place on the sets so much so that Ekta organized a havan to ward off evil Ekta also wishes to keep tight lipped about the girl in question since she is still reeling under the mental trauma of the MMS scandal. RAGINI MMS promises commercial recreation of a real life incident. It takes the real episode forward by incorporating the paranormal. The film will be made in a manner that keeps as close as possible to this terrifying story without fictionalizing it.
Balaji Joint MD Ekta Kapoor has been felicitated as Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by the Faith Awards in association with Bajaj Hindusthan and ET Now. The jury comprised of the Marico Industries chairman Harsh Mariwala along with Renuka Ramnath, Prasoon Joshi, Deepak Ghaisas and Jerry Rao, among others. Ekta was felicitated by Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways Jitin Prasada and Times TV Group MD Sunil Lulla at an event held at a South Mumbai hotel. Ekta thanked her parents and everyone at Balaji Telefilms, including group CEO Puneet Kinra, CEO – Television Manuj Agarwal and CEO – Motion Pictures Tanuj Garg, who were present at the occasion.
Holi time was make-up time for Balaji Motion Pictures' Ekta and her celebrated 'bahu', Smriti 'Tulsi' Iraani. After three long years, Ekta invited Iraani for a Holi bash. Ever since Ekta had a fall out with Smriti, the leading lady of her TV series Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, she had never invited the actress for any of her parties. Post the fight, in June 2007, Iraani ceased to be a part of the show, saying, "Ekta asked me to leave." She returned soon after but things were not the same between the two. Following this, Ekta, who was all set to co-produce Iraani's show Thodi Si Zameen Thoda Sa Aasmaan, pulled out of the project. She even refused to produce Iraani's Manniben.com when Balaji Telefilms was approached for the same. But during the Holi, Ekta put the past behind her. She invited Smriti for the Holi bash.
Anita Hassanandani started her career as a model and graduated to TV a few years back with good friend Ektaa's daily soap. She was then seen on the big screen in a thriller film, also by Ekta's production house. Since then Hassanandani has been juggling between the two mediums of entertainment. Moving away from Ekta's stable, Hassanandani is now doing Andhera, a horror show. So is Ekta aware of her taking up the show? And did she ask Ekta before signing the show? “Yes, she is very much aware of the show. In fact, she liked the promos. But why will I seek her permission to do the show? We are friends but it's my career. I guess I can take my own decisions.” ”Will she work with Ekta again? “Of course, I will. Ektaa's production house is like home to me. We will be working on something shortly. I'd always love to work with her, but that doesn't mean I'd stick to only her production house. I am sure she wouldn't want that too. It will become so predictable then.”
Ekta, Suniel end fight! All is now well between Ekta Kapoor and Suniel Shetty, who had fallen out two years ago, following hassles over their joint venture. Though they have ironed out their differences, Anna has now sworn off production forever. Says an insider, "He has burnt his fingers producing films, and now will only stick to acting. Suniel and Mana are friends again with Ekta and family.”
Emraan is Ekta's blue eyed boy Ekta has a new favourite in town. Ekta is highly impressed with Emraan Hashmi, so much so that she is meting out some special treatment to the actor these days. Emraan and Ekta became thick friends during their last film ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI, in which Emraan played a powerful role. The film which was a huge hit also made Emraan the blue eyed boy of Ekta. Now, for her upcoming film DIRTY PICTURE, which stars Emraan and Vidya in the lead, the maverick producer is leaving no stone unturned to pamper her actors, especially Emraan. Ekta seems to be mighty impressed with Emraan these days. Not only is she kicked about the casting coup of sorts that she has successfully pulled off by bringing Emraan and Vidya together, but she is also highly impressed with Emraan's acting talent. That is why she chose to cast him in her next movie as well. Ekta has some more scripts with Emraan in mind. So obviously her blue eyed boy has finally got exposed. Emraan and Ekta's next coming together DIRTY PICTURE is set to hit the floors next month.
Thus Ekta is still going strong as both film and TV serial producer. Keep it up, Ekta!

Dinesh Kamath's old article on Ekta Kapoor that was published in Newsband

Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms and Vishal Bhardwaj will jointly produce a romantic film called Dreams. Bharadwaj will direct the movie. Though the cast is yet to be chosen, it is certain that the film will be a love triangle of two girls and a boy. Ekta has been toying with the idea of making this film for a long time, but she wasn't able to get the right director. Once she saw Bhardwaj's last film Kaminey, Ekta went ahead and thrashed a deal with the director. The script is ready and Bhardwaj is now finalizing the cast for the film. Ekta, in fact, was impressed with films like Omkara and Maqbool which were also made by Bhardwaj. At the success party of Ekta's Love Sex Aur Dhokha, all heads turned when Vishal Bhardwaj entered because Ekta's parties mostly have their regulars who are biggies from the television industry, actors who have worked in her films and those who are currently working in them. But later everybody realized about the business deal that Ekta had made with Bhardwaj. For your information, all the three actors cast in the film Dreams will be big names. Vishal will start work on this Ekta's project as soon as he completes his Saat Khoon Maaf.
After the luminously lauded Love Sex Aur Dhoka (LSD), the unlikely duo of director Dibakar Banerjee and producer Ekta Kapoor are all set to come together again for what promises to be the most intense love story of 2011. Dibakar wrote a new love story specially for Ekta's Balaji Films and presented it to her as a belated birthday gift. Dibakar considers Ekta as a dream producer because when he and Ekta came together for LSD, Ekta gave him a free rein. She saw to it that Dibakar was in a happy frame of mind while making LSD. Ekta wanted Dibakar to return to her only when she had a true-blue love story to make. Dibakar came to her with the story as soon as he got one.
Ekta had done a lot of promotion work for her ambitious venture Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. Her stars, Ajay Devgan, Kangna Ranaut, Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai, made appearances on various telly shows, including Indian Idol 5, CID and Dance. Ekta ensured that the hoardings that had gone up across the country were in the hand-painted style of the 1970s, the decade in which it was set. It was impossible to get all the hoardings hand-painted, but Ekta got a few done for select locations in the city. She didn't want the 70s experience to remain incomplete for her audience so she got artists to wield the brush for her. The response from her friends and industry veterans was mind-blowing.
According to Ekta, to succeed in the creative economy, intuitive knowledge of viewers' tastes and an ability to pick ideas that resonate are necessary. Instinct is everything, she says. According to her, you need to evolve and re-evolve to align yourself with changing tastes. Great content is all about great basic thoughts - things nobody has seen all around, but no one has been able to pick up and use as a concept, she says. A few years ago, Ekta had received an unusual invitation from the British Council and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, to speak to a group of young people undergoing a weeklong management programme to become entrepreneurs for a 'creative economy'. Thus this mercurial star-kid turned serious creative economy entrepreneur. Ekta considers herself as an entrepreneur but not in the conventional sense. She has learnt business as time passed, but she does not have a B-school education. Ekta has the ability to know and smell her viewer. Whenever she is catering to the housewife sitting at home, she tries to know her taste. So, instinct is the driving force that stands out in her case. The second and most important thing is 'evolving'. Ekta has realized that the taste of the viewer can constantly change. She can sniff out the need for change. She constantly restructures her business to cater to changing taste. She has become successful by doing a certain kind of content as per her instinct. She has the ability to reach out to people constantly. Ekta is one of those persons who listen to their instincts and live by their own rules. She has disciplined herself to become a perfect professional. She has succeeded in balancing creativity with discipline. She possesses that instinct of picking up the right professional and the right thought. She has been able to harvest creativity in a disciplined way. She cares for passion more than talent because talent can be built, but not passion. She just does what she loves. She doesn't care about what the audiences want because she knows what they don't know they want. All her television works are more entertaining, more colloquial and more understandable because she believes TV is all about great basic thoughts. She chooses those things that everyone can see all around but no one has picked up. The thought behind Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was that every day, every generation passes on a legacy to their men; they give their businesses, their homes and everything else to their sons. But the women are expected to give their kitchen, their son and their power to the new woman who comes in. It is actually so much tougher for the Indian women to give up something on which her whole life depends. The thought behind Kasauti Zindagi Ki was cursed love. Everyone in the world probably has had one love that did not materialize into a relationship. A thought like this is a basic great thought.
Ekta has launched a new television show Bol Niti Bol, which tells quite a different story from her usual fare. At 17 episodes, the show tries to reach out to the youth. Bol Niti Bol is a web diary of a 17-year-old girl. Niti speaks about her life, her friends, her loves and heartaches, and connects the world through her web camera. Each episode is a short update from her about the new events in her life who she met recently, the boy she likes, her crushes, how she handles people who hit on her and so on. Ekta was clever enough to use the internet to promote this show. She has come up with this show just to entertain the youth, not preach to them. She is sure that the show will encourage the youth to express themselves and speak their heart out.
A film inspired by the controversial life of the dreaded gangster Dawood Ibrahim would undoubtedly be incomplete without a reference to the actress Mandakini who was allegedly involved with Dawood. Obviously, Ekta couldn't have convinced the actress to make an appearance in her film Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. So producer Ekta and director Milan Luthria had decided to get Mandakini's look-alike who was an actress of Australian origin called Amy Kingston, and who bore an uncanny resemblance to Mandakini. The sequence of the film was this way: Emraan, whose role is on the lines of Dawood Ibrahim's life, meets Amy. He cheats on his steady girlfriend Prachi Desai, befriends Amy and promises her that he would get her a crucial role in a big film. She had a song and two scenes. But when the film got released, it was found that this whole Mandakini episode was omitted. God knows why!
The tremendous success of the film Once Upon A Time In Mumbai has given a terrific boost to Ekta's image. Ekta has already attained the position of top TV serial producer. Will Ekta, one day, manage to become the top film producer too? Let's wait and see!

Dinesh Kamath's old article on Ekta Kapoor that was published in Newsband

Ekta Kapoor is the one I'll continue writing about even today. Ekta was involved in a roadside altercation in Mumbai recently. Ekta is a fitness freak. She was jogging on the road along Juhu beach. She was accompanied by four bodyguards. Suddenly a man, driving his car at a breakneck speed, drove past her, almost knocking her over. The man didn't apologize and instead got off the car and screamed at Ekta, “Don't you know how to walk on the footpath?” Ekta was not used to being shouted at and she flew into a rage. Her bodyguards stepped in and tried to convince the man that it was his fault. However that unidentified man was rather abrasive. An altercation ensued. Both parties left the spot after nearly 20 minutes. Ekta didn't take this incident lying down. She took the matters to the cops. She had noted the number of the car and after she reached home she sent someone from her staff to lodge a police complaint. The police registered a non-cognizable complaint and are investigating.
Ekta is fond of jogging. Every single afternoon, you can spot television heiress Ekta jogging a few miles from her home, unmindful of sweltering heat. She usually covers her face with a cap, wears a neat pony tail, and equips herself with required jogging gear like a designer track suit and sports shoes. However, what makes for spectacular viewing is the sight of the people accompanying the soap queen in her daily routine. There is a safari clad security man jogging right behind her, and there are servants dressed in spotless white clothes running with her water bottle, energy drink, napkin etc.
The soap queen Ekta is getting ready to venture into the hospitality business. She has chosen an 11 acre plot on the outskirts of Pune, and she will be building a hotel on it. The acquisition process of the land is 90 percent complete. Very soon, the construction of the hotel will start. Right now, the plan is to make a 3-star hotel but it could even be upgraded to a 4-star one.
As I told you yesterday, Ekta's brother gave a gift to his sister during her birthday. He wanted to give her something different, since he had been giving her watches, perfumes and other expensive accessories over the last few years. When Ekta was young, she loved reading books but once she became famous she stopped because of lack of time. Tusshar picked up three books to gift her. They were The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Adventures of Sally by P G Wodehouse and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which his girlfriends recommended to give Ekta. Tusshar thought that Ekta might like one of these books so much she might make a serial from it. He wanted her to start reading again. As a child, Ekta loved reading so much she would pretend to study when actually reading fiction. Tusshar thought by giving her books for a change, he could refresh her memories and put her onto the reading habit again. In the past, Tusshar and Ekta used to fight over the most inane things all the time. Now life has come full circle when he is buying her books. Today, the two are the best of friends.
Ekta and Anita Hasanandani, who had been out of touch for a while, suddenly decided to get together to spend quality time over lunch the other day. Both are crazy about authentic Asian cuisine and hence chose to go to an Oriental restaurant.
Ekta is all set to launch a film called Driver and has roped in Sudhir Mishra as the director. Chitrangada Singh will play the lead in the film. Ekta wanted to go ahead with this project for quite sometime, but wasn't able to zero in on a director. With Sudhir Mishra, things fell into place. Driver is about a young boy falling in love with an older woman and the trials and tribulations of a relationship set in the political backdrop of Delhi. Ekta wanted Ranbir Kapoor to play the young boy, but Ranbir's tight schedule didn't permit him to give his nod. Currently, Sudhir and Ekta are on the lookout for a male lead.
All are aware of the fact that Ekta is all set to come up with the film Once Upon A Time In Mumbai which is being touted as a modified tale of Haji Mastan. Sundar Shekhar Mirza, the adopted son of Haji Mastan, isn't flattered at the Haji connection in Ekta's flick. He has given vent to his feelings by serving a legal notice to Ekta's Balaji Telefilms and director Milan Luthria for making a movie based on the life of his late father. Mirza questions Ekta's right to make a film on his late father without first taking the consent of Mastan's family. Mirza is irked at the flick linking Mastan to Dawood Ibrahim, a declared terrorist by the Indian government. Mirza isn't amused at his late father being dragged into infamous company. For your information, Mirza is the man who was taken to court by Haji Mastan's daughters for misusing the don's name to carry out illegal activities.
Ekta used to be a mentor for Ajaz Khan until relations between the two soured when Ekta had him replaced a day before the schedule shoot of her film Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. A bitterly disappointed Khan then blamed director Milan Luthria and didn't even spare Ekta, calling her production house unprofessional. The actor had vowed never to work with her mentor again. For your information, Ajaz had played the character Dushasana in Ekta's Kahani Hamhaarey Mahabharat Ki. Just recently, Ajaz had invited Ekta for his birthday party but Ekta didn't turn up.
Ekta is infamous for being a tough boss, but small screen actor Sarwar Ahuja, who plays the title role in her new series Keshav Pandit on Zee TV, describes the television czarina as a warm-hearted person. The show was not a cake walk for him. He had to give seven auditions for this role. But yet according to him, Ekta is not a difficult task master and she is focused and warm-hearted. He finds the environment she has created around her very professional. He is prepared to deliver what Ekta expects from her character.
Thus one feels really great to see Ekta once again occupying the top position in the Indian Television industry. She has certainly learnt from her past mistakes and she is showing signs of occupying that position for another couple of years or maybe more. Congrats, Ekta!

Dinesh Kamath's old article on Ekta Kapoor that was published in Newsband

Ekta Kapoor has chosen actor Sarwar Ahuja to play the lead role in Zee TV's next thriller Keshav Pandit. She was looking for a typical north Indian guy with broad shoulders and a mature face but on the other hand, she also wanted someone who would look sweet and soft hearted. She must have seen all those characteristics in Sarwar Ahuja.
Ekta got the idea of Keshav Pandit while she was discussing with her writers and when one of them asked her if she had heard about Keshav Pandit who is a very famous character from Ved Prakash Sharma's novels. Ekta was floored when she heard the stories. She was thrilled and decided to make a television show on Keshav Pandit. She traced the writer Ved Prakash Sharma and called him for a narration. Later she got the rights and got it on television. Ekta had started her career with Hum Paanch in Zee. So she had a great rapport with the people here. When she wanted to make Keshav Pandit, the very first channel she thought of was Zee. She felt honoured when the channel accepted the show.
Ekta's next big show was ready to go on air on Imagine. But it still doesn't have a male lead. The reason: producers, Balaji Telefilms, approached several actors, including their once favourite Iqbal Khan, and most of them have failed to fit the bill. Iqbal had almost been finalized to play the lead. He was extremely elated to come back to the banner. But when Ekta discovered that her team had approached him and nearly signed him on, she threw a fit. She immediately decided not to cast him and keep him out of the picture completely. He walked out of Karam Apna Apna and didn't seem interested in working with Ekta after that. He had even spread a negative word for her back in the day. So, the war between them actually continues. Ekta had launched Khan in Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai on Sony. He apparently couldn't get along with co-star Neha Bamb though they both continuously denied it. His next was Kavyanjali and Kahiin To Hoga for Balaji Telefilms, both of which were aired on Star Plus. Karam Apna Apna, another Star Plus-Balaji show, was his last for Ekta after which he decided to go his way. Khan, after moving on, reportedly made some stark remarks about Ekta and her way of working, which she didn't like. The two haven't worked together after that show and the reported spat.
Ekta is all set to release her first Marathi film. After making a TV show revolving around a Maharashtrian family, producer Ekta Kapoor's production company ALT Entertainment has just completed its first Marathi film. It has been readied in utmost secrecy. There was no mahurat, no announcement and no wrap-up party either. The untitled film stars Sachin Khedekar along with Ashwini Giri and has been directed by Kiran Yadnyopavith. The film is produced by Ekta along with Shital Bhatia and Neeraj Pandey. Last year, Ekta and her experts had worked out a strategy for producing more regional films. They felt that regional films, especially Marathi, with their local culture and flavour were to be a big draw this year and that they should produce at least two or three such films a year. Ekta was also aware about the fact that parents loved to bring their kids to watch wholesome family entertainers of their culture and language since by watching such films they could get to know more about their roots and culture too. One of the main reasons why Ekta is making Marathi film is to please her dad Jeetendra who is a Punjabi by birth but who is half Maharashtrian. Jeetendra speaks Marathi as fluently as his own mother tongue. He has grown up in the chawls of Girgaum and hence he and his family always had a very strong Maharashtrian influence on them. Actually what happened was Ekta was on her way to Tirupati when Neeraj narrated the story to her. The story excited Ekta and she decided to be one of the producers. She thought that should be the first Marathi film from their banner. She and her team have been working on the film quietly for two months and it is complete now. The story is about relationships set against Maharashtrian sensibilities and culture. Ekta admits that it was their strategy to launch and complete the project without any hype. Thus Ekta has come up with an extremely sensitive and entertaining film with creative supervision by Neeraj.
The general impression is that Ekta is very aggressive, and hence, a tough lady to work with. But Milan Luthria, who has directed Once Upon A Time In Mumbai for Ekta, says just the contrary. According to him, once Ekta and her mother Shobha Kapoor sanction a project, they never interfere with the creative side.
Ekta, the Czarina of Television is back with an array of new fiction shows, of which the first in the line is the tale of Swara, a Lavni based dancer who possesses all the good qualities that a perfect bride can have, but still faces problems from the society who refuse to look beyond her art form and accept her to be Sarvagunn Sampanna. Thus Sarvagunn Sampanna is Ekta's new Imagine show. Actually Ekta was looking for a concept that has a rich background which is culturally rich and which at the same time talks of certain disrespectful attributes prevalent in the society. Basically she was looking for a show based on background versus character, like the recent Marathi movie Natrang. This is her second show after Pavitra Rishta based on Marathi cultural background. The show is doing well.
It seems reinvention is the new mantra for producer Ekta. After ruling the television space for almost a decade with her saas-bahu sagas and kitchen politics, Ekta is now trying out new rules of the game. She is adapting pulp fiction from the Hindi heartland. This is an entirely new concept that Ekta is trying. She is now dealing with very interesting stories with a mix of suspense, thrills and high drama. Zee TV's popular show Pavitra Rishta also proved to be the saving grace for Ekta.
Ekta feels that TV is a more superior medium than film. She loves talking to her audience. She loves urban young sensibilities and also mass India. According to her, film is too small compared to TV, as the latter reaches to mass at a time but not films. Ekta admits that her show may not be perfect but according to her if mass appreciates it then nothing like that.
Everyone knows how Ekta has come back on the small screen with a bang. It's not significant how many shows she is doing, but what's of importance is that the quality standards she has set with her previous shows are maintained. So it's great to see Ekta once again more ahead than anybody else in the race to make it to the top in the television world. Congrats, Ekta!